Metabolic Interaction in Infection

This book focuses on host–pathogen interactions at the metabolic level. It explores the metabolic requirements of the infectious agents, the microbial metabolic pathways that are dedicated to circumvent host immune mechanisms as well as the molecular mechanisms by which pathogens hijack host cell metabolism for their own benefit. Finally, it provides insights on the possible clinical and immunotherapeutic applications, as well as on the available experimental and analytical methods. The contributions break new ground in understanding the metabolic crosstalk between host and pathogen.

Ricardo Silvestre is Principal Investigator at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Portugal. His research interest is to integrate the study of basic molecular and cellular mechanisms to develop a greater understanding of the immune-metabolic interface in innate immune cells. He addresses how the modifications of host cell metabolism and bioenergetics arising during inflammatory or infectious processes impact the immune functions of monocytes/macrophage and dendritic cells and the further consequences to tissue homeostasis with the objective of developing new approaches to prevention and treatment.  both during the innate and chronic phases of the infection. The emphasis of his work is on cytokines and the maintenance of the T cell response and the development of pathological consequences to the host.