Trained innate immunity

Trained innate immunity (or simply "trained immunity") describes a phenomenon where innate immune cells such as monocytes, macrophages, and natural killer cells acquire a long-lived, enhanced response to secondary infections or stimuli, due to epigenetic and metabolic reprogramming[1][4][7][16]. Unlike adaptive immunity, trained innate immunity is non-specific and does not involve antigen-specific receptors or memory cells, but instead results from prior exposure to certain infections, vaccines, or endogenous signals that alter chromatin structure and gene expression, leading to heightened inflammatory potential when cells are restimulated[1][7][4][10]. This process is implicated in both protection against unrelated infections and in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, as well as organ transplant rejection when dysregulated[1][7]. Clarification: "Trained innate immunity" is not a specific molecule, receptor, or canonical therapeutic target, but rather a functional and epigenetic state of the innate immune system[1][7][4]. The query does not refer to a druggable protein, enzyme, transporter, or receptor, and thus should be flagged as not a discrete drug target (is_target: false; is_incorrect: true).

Other names

Trained immunityInnate immune memoryInnate immune training