CRH and bacterial infectious disease: 2002; Ganceviciene et al. 2009; Rassouli et al. 2011). Previous findings suggest that CRH, through its ligation to its receptors, can modulate cellular immune and inflammatory responses (Sternberg et al. 1992; De Miguel et al. 2011; Sasayama et al. 2011; Wang et al. 2012). However, its mechanisms of action on cellular immune function remain unclear. Importantly, few studies have demonstrated how CRH may impact innate pulmonary immune defenses against bacterial infections (e.g., Streptococcus pneumoniae) (Murray et al. 2001; Gonzales et al. 2008; Kim et al. 2011).