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The vertebrate immune system defends the organism against invading pathogens while at the same time being self-tolerant to the body’s own constituents thus preserving its integrity. Multiple mechanisms work in concert to ensure self-tolerance. Apart from purging the T cell repertoire from auto-reactive T cells via negative selection in the thymus dominant tolerance exerted by regulatory T cells plays a major role in tolerance imposition and maintenance. Among the various regulatory/suppressive cells hitherto described, CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Treg) and interleukin-10 producing T regulatory 1 (Tr1) cells have been studied in most detail and are the subject of most articles in this iss...
Over the last 15 years, apoptosis has become a dominant focus of medical research in the field of immunology. This publication discusses the three major areas of apoptosis research: extrinsic death receptor pathways, intrinsic cell death pathways and the mechanisms responsible for apoptotic cell clearance. Each section delineates the proteins and signal transduction pathways and describes genetic alterations that lead to autoimmune diseases. Although most cell death abnormalities have been associated with systemic autoimmune disorders such as lupus erythematosus and lymphoproliferative syndromes, it is evident that regulation of cell death is also pertinent to disease expression in many organ-specific diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and glomerulonephritis. This volume highlights the recent advances in the basic mechanisms of apoptosis and the application of that knowledge to understanding the impact of defective apoptosis or defective clearance of apoptotic cells on the immune function and the expression of disease. It is of special interest to cell biologists, immunologists and clinicians.
This book brings together material on all aspects of immunological tolerance. Basic mechanisms of tolerance are examined in detail, including mechanisms of peripheral T cell tolerance, molecular and genetic mechanisms for maintaining self tolerance, partial T cell activation, and the role of apoptosis in tolerance. Careful consideration is also given to the clinical applications of our understanding of immunological tolerance, with specific chapters dealing with T cell activation during tumour therapy, antiantigen specific immune suppression, tolerance in infectious diseases, tolerance during pregnancy, and tolerance during various autoimmune diseases.
Although the utility of human antibodies as medical therapeutics for cancer and immune diseases has been well-established, it is only beginning to be realized for the treatment of viral infectious diseases. Polyclonal immunoglobulins have long been used for some viral diseases, but they have limited potency and disease scope. Only a single humanized monoclonal antibody (pavilizumab) has been approved as a viral countermeasure.
Throughout the biological world, bacteria thrive predominantly in surface-attached, matrix-enclosed, multicellular communities or biofilms, as opposed to isolated planktonic cells. This choice of lifestyle is not trivial, as it involves major shifts in the use of genetic information and cellular energy, and has profound consequences for bacterial physiology and survival. Growth within a biofilm can thwart immune function and antibiotic therapy and thereby complicate the treatment of infectious diseases, especially chronic and foreign device-associated infections. Modern studies of many important biofilms have advanced well beyond the descriptive stage, and have begun to provide molecular det...
At last – a volume that virologists have been waiting for: a fully updated new edition of a major study in a key subject area. The first edition of this work, published in 1997, described the molecular biology of coxsackie B viruses, as well as clinical, epidemiological, and immunological aspects of group B coxsackievirus disease. This brand new edition covers all the research accomplishments of the last ten years in this vital area of medicine, including immunopathology.