The Biological Role of Dectin-1 in Immune Response

The identification of antigen-recognizing receptors in the innate immune system significantly helped us to understand the initiation and regulation of the innate immune response. Dectin-1 was recently identified as the most important receptor for beta-glucan. Recognition of beta-glucan by dectin-1 triggers effective immune response, including phagocytosis and proinflammatory factor production, to eliminate infecting fungi, which especially benefits immunocompromised patients against opportunistic fungal infection. In addition, dectin-1 is involved in the adaptive immune response as well as autoimmune diseases and immune tolerance. In this paper, we will mainly focus on the characteristics of dectin-1 and its biological role in immune response.