Papel de las células epiteliales en la respuesta inmune del pulmón

the respiratory tract is one of the main systems which is in perennial contact with a wide variety of pathogenic microorganisms; however, infection is seldom produced due to its innate immune response. respiratory tract epithelial cells play a very important role to avoid colonization of the lung by infectious agents, because they recognize microbial molecules through very specialized receptors, such as toll-like receptors; moreover, these cells posses a broad variety of molecules which are related to local immunity. respiratory tract epithelial cells produce chemokines, antimicrobial peptides and other proinflammatory molecules that prevent the establishment of pathogenic microorganisms