Biological function of cGAS/STING pathway and its role in bacterial infection

Abstract:

Innate immunity is the first line of the host against invasion of foreign pathogens, and pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) are key receptors mediating innate immune response. PRRs activate the innate immune response of the host by recognizing pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Among them, there is a milestone discovery in the field of DNA recognition and innate immunity in the 21^st century—cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS), which plays an important role in the host innate immune process. cGAS mediates the activation of stimulator of interferon genes (STING) by recognizing foreign DNA and producing a second messenger 2′,3′-cyclic GMP-AMP (2′,3′-cGAMP), thus promoting the secretion of downstream interferon and other cytokines to play an antiviral role in the host. Recent studies have found that the cGAS/STING pathway plays an important role in the host’s resistance to bacterial infection. Meanwhile, bacteria have also evolved different mechanisms to antagonize the cGAS/STING pathway. This paper mainly reviewed the biological functions of the cGAS/STING pathway and its role in bacterial infection, providing theoretical references for the further development of new antibacterial drugs.