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REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Vaccines and Molecular Therapeutics
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1436557
This article is part of the Research Topic Vaccines and Therapeutics Utilizing New Adjuvants and Potential Inhibitors to Target Emerging Infectious Diseases View all articles

The future of threat agnostic therapy is host directed

Provisionally accepted
Ruth E. Thom Ruth E. Thom 1*Riccardo V. D'Elia Riccardo V. D'Elia 1,2
  • 1 Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Salisbury, United Kingdom
  • 2 Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    New and emerging pathogens, such as SARS-CoV2 have highlighted the requirement for threat agnostic therapies. Some antibiotics or antivirals can demonstrate broad-spectrum activity against pathogens in the same family or genus but efficacy can quickly reduce due to their specific mechanism of action and for the ability of the disease causing agent to evolve. This has led to the generation of antimicrobial resistant strains, making infectious diseases more difficult to treat. Alternative approaches therefore need to be considered, which include exploring the utility of Host-Directed Therapies (HDTs). This is a growing area with huge potential but difficulties arise due to the complexity of disease profiles. For example, a HDT given early during infection may not be appropriate or as effective when the disease has become chronic or when a patient is in intensive care. With the growing understanding of immune function a new generation of HDT for the treatment of disease could allow targeting specific pathways to augment or diminish the host response, dependent upon disease profile, and allow for bespoke therapeutic management plans. This review highlights promising and approved HDTs that can manipulate the immune system

    Keywords: host-directed, therapeutic, DNA sensing, STING, pyroptosis, Itaconate, Infection

    Received: 22 May 2024; Accepted: 06 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Thom and D'Elia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ruth E. Thom, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Salisbury, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.