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A review of the interaction of Bacillus anthracis with cells of the innate immune response.

Bacillus anthracis spores cause natural infections and can be used as biological weapons. The innate immune response is the first line of defence against invading pathogens and is likely to play a central role in this acute infection. To date the immune evasion mechanisms of B. anthracis are not well understood. Infection by inhalation with B. anthracis, the etiological agent of anthrax, is almost always lethal, yet cutaneous infections usually remain localized and resolve spontaneously in the majority of cases. Neutrophils are typically recruited to cutaneous but seldom to other forms of anthrax infections, raising the possibility that neutrophils kill B. anthracis. This is an overview of the interaction of B. anthracis with innate immune cells which also focuses on recent data on the role neutrophils play in anthrax pathogenesis. These data suggest that the timely recruitment of neutrophils can control the cutaneous and possibly other forms of B. anthracis infections and that the neutrophil granule proteins, a-defensins, play an important role in the potent anti-B. anthracis activity of neutrophils.