“There’s a cliche in medicine that immunity is a double-edged sword. The same function that protects the body against viral or bacterial invaders can also cause harm when it goes into overdrive. “In immunity, nothing can be entirely beneficial,” said Dr. George Hajishengallis, the Thomas W. Evans Centennial Professor in the Department of Basic and Translational Sciences at Penn Dental Medicine. “Depending on context, you may want to inhibit or promote these processes.” The downside of immunity — specifically, maladaptive trained innate immunity — took Dr. Hajishengallis to the National Institutes of Health earlier this year, when he was invited to be the keynote speaker at an NIH work- shop.”
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