In mammals, health maintenance depends on the active and constant surveillance of pathogens, dead cells, and ruptures of the extracellular matrix. Local and systemic mediators temporally integrate the mechanisms associated with monitoring and the responses triggered by danger signals. The present review, coordinated by Profa. Regina P. Markus, in collaboration with advisors and students from the Graduate Program in Science (General Physiology) at IBUSP, presents the findings that supported the concept of the Immune-Pineal Axis and put melatonin as an important regulator of immune surveillance, defense responses, and remodeling/restoration of tissue functions. The events that regulate the shift of the melatonin-producing source from the pineal gland to macrophages during the development of an innate immune response and the role of melatonin produced by resident macrophages as a key factor in the organisms' first-line defense were addressed.

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(22), 12143; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222212143

Special Issue: Melatonin: Molecular Mechanisms and Biological Functions. A 2021 Update.