Endocrine regulation of immunity in insects

Research output: Contribution to journalReviewpeer-review

Organisms have constant contact with potentially harmful agents that can compromise their fitness. However, most of the times these agents fail to cause serious disease by virtue of the rapid and efficient immune responses elicited in the host that can range from behavioural adaptations to immune system triggering. The immune system of insects does not comprise the adaptive arm, making it less complex than that of vertebrates, but key aspects of the activation and regulation of innate immunity are conserved across different phyla. This is the case for the hormonal regulation of immunity as a part of the broad organismal responses to external conditions under different internal states. In insects, depending on the physiological circumstances, distinct hormones either enhance or suppress the immune response integrating individual (and often collective) responses physiologically and behaviourally. In this review, we provide an overview of our current knowledge on the endocrine regulation of immunity in insects, its mechanisms and implications on metabolic adaptation and behaviour. We highlight the importance of this multilayered regulation of immunity in survival and reproduction (fitness) and its dependence on the hormonal integration with other mechanisms and life-history traits.

Original languageEnglish
JournalFEBS Journal
Volume288
Issue number13
Pages (from-to)3928-3947
Number of pages20
ISSN1742-464X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

    Research areas

  • antimicrobial peptides, ecdysone, hormones, IIS (insulin signalling), Imd signalling, immunity, insect, juvenile hormone, metabolism, Toll signalling

ID: 250542173