Neuropeptides: keeping the balance between pathogen immunity and immune tolerance.

Various neuropeptides have emerged recently as potent immunomodulatory factors with potential for their therapeutic use in immune disorders. Here we highlight the most recent data relevant in the field and we offer our opinion on how neuropeptide therapy might impact clinical immune diseases, and the challenges in this field that must be overcome before achieving medical progress. We also review recent reports describing the antimicrobial effects showed by some neuropeptides and the therapeutic, physiological, and evolutionary consequences of this new finding. Finally, we discuss how a physiologically functional neuropeptide system contributes to general health and how neuropeptides educate our immune system to be tolerant. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.