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CD1 and MR1 are major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I-related proteins that bind and present non-peptide antigens to subsets of T cells with specialized functions. CD1 proteins typically present lipid antigens to CD1-restricted T cells, whereas MR1 presents vitamin B-based ligands and a variety of drugs and drug-like molecules to MR1-restricted T cells. The CD1 family of antigen presenting molecules has been divided into two groups: Group 1 contains CD1a, CD1b and CD1c, and Group 2 contains CD1d. Additionally, CD1e is expressed intracellularly and is involved in the loading of lipid antigens onto Group 1 CD1 proteins. Humans express both Groups 1 and 2 CD1 proteins, whereas mice onl...
Dissection of the specificity of host immune responses following infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis is essential for designing effective vaccination and diagnostic biomarkers as well as for better understanding of immunopathogenesis of active tuberculosis. The articles in this volume of the Topics in Microbial Immunology review the significance of this area of research from both experimental models and clinical surveys. This includes T cell recognition of MHC permissive epitopes, use of algorithms for genome-based prediction of immunodominant epitopes, evaluation of candidate antigens/epitopes and adjuvants for vaccination and immunodiagnosis. Future research strategies indicate the need for better understanding of the relationship between epitope specificity and the phenotype of responding T cells and search for biomarkers with a capacity to discriminate and predict the change from latent infection to active disease. These research avenues have important potentials for improving the prevention and control of tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis once again occupies a special position in the areas of infec tious diseases and microbiology. This disease has been important to mankind since even before biblical times. Tuberculosis has been a major cause of morbidity and mortality in humans, especially in highly ur banized Europe, until a few decades ago. Indeed, this disease became a center of many novels, plays, and operas, since it appeared to be quite popular to have the heroine dying of "consumption. " Most importantly, tuberculosis also became the focus of attention for many investigations during the 19th and even the 20th centuries. Major advances were made in the areas of isolation and identification of M. tuberculosi...
Tuberculosis (TB) remains the prime bacterial infection worldwide with 10.4 million infections and a death toll of 1.7 million people in 2016 according to WHO statistics. Tuberculosis is caused by members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, facultative intracellular bacteria able to thrive within otherwise potent innate defense cells, the macrophages. In a world of increasing numbers of infections with drug resistant M. tuberculosis strains, the daunting race between developing new therapeutics and emerging resistant strains will hardly produce a winner. This cycle can only be broken by enhancing population wide immune control through a better vaccine as the only one currently in use,...
There is increasing evidence that the CD1 system has been conserved throughout mammalian evolution and is capable of presenting structurally diverse diacyglycerol, sphingolipid, polyisoprenol and lipopeptide antigens. This volume provides a comprehensive discussion of these basic aspects of CD1 biology and summarizes the most recent research into the role of CD1 in infectious, autoimmune, allergic and neoplastic disease.
Long-lasting T cell immunity is delivered by an array of individual T lymphocytes expressing clonally distributed and highly specific antigen receptors recognizing an almost infinite number of antigens that might enter in contact with the host. Following antigen-specific priming in lymphnodes, naïve CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes proliferate generating clones of effector cells that migrate to peripheral tissues and deliver unique antigen-specific effector functions. Moreover, a proportion of these effector lymphocytes survive as memory T cells that can be rapidly mobilized upon new exposure to the same antigen, even years after their primary induction. Innate immune cells play crucial roles in t...
It has been known for over 150 years that hallmarks of inflammation can be observed in the wall of atherosclerotic vessels. It was, however, not clear if this inflammation is the cause or the consequence of atherogenesis. More recently, it has become evident that inflammation mediated both by innate and adaptive immunity is instrumental even in the earliest stages of the development of atherosclerotic lesions, i.e., that it plays an important pathogenetic role. In this volume, international experts in the field discuss the pathogenetic, diagnostic, preventive and possible therapeutic relevance of inflammation in atherogenesis. This book is intended for researchers and physicians in the fields of vascular biology, immunology and atherosclerosis.
Conventional CD8+ and CD4+ T cells recognize antigens, presented by antigen-presenting cells in the form of short peptides loaded onto major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and class II molecules, through their T cell receptor (TCR). Somatic gene rearrangement of the TCR locus and randomization of TCR hyper-variable regions generate the marked diversity of TCRs. Once assembled, the heterodimeric TCR confers specificity to naïve T cells. The naïve T cell repertoire of an individual is established by selection processes in the thymus and cannot be broadened upon antigen recognition by additional somatic mutations. In humans, the estimated number of distinct TCRs in the naïve T cell...
With a wide variety of investigative approaches, T cell immunology is a vital and open field of study. In T Cell Protocols, Second Edition, an international panel of experts contribute fully updated classic protocols as well as newly established novel techniques for the study of T lymphocyte biology. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular BiologyTM series format, the chapters in this volume provide brief introductions to the topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and Notes sections which collect expert tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Up-to-date and easy to use, T Cell Protocols, Second Edition is an ideal guide for young investigators new to the complex field of immunology as well as a valuable, concise resource for experienced scientists searching for clear, efficacious descriptions of novel methods.