Novartis Foundation Symposium 252 - Generation And Effector Functions Of Regulatory Lymphocytes

Over the last several years, immunologists have re-discovered the importance of regulatory lymphocytes, formerly termed 'suppressor cells'. Many recent reports have documented their existence, effector functions and potential therapeutic benefits in autoimmunity and transplantation. However, even though modern techniques have allowed us to get a much more detailed picture of these cells, they are still highly controversial. Several unresolved issues responsible for this dilemma are discussed in this book: it is difficult to grow and clone such cells, their phenotypes and effector functions are diverse and can sometimes easily be lost, and it is not well understood how they interact with antigen-presenting cells.

This book contains contributions from leading investigators from around the world, including lively discussion of the current state of the art in studies of regulatory lymphocytes. Topics featured are the physiological control of autoimmunity, the role of antigen-specific cells in various diseases and disease models and effector mechanisms. Therapeutic applications are considered, particularly for type 1 diabetes, tissue transplantation and the control of viral infection. This important and groundbreaking book should be of interest to all immunologists.

Related Novartis Foundation symposia:

254 Immunoinformatics: bioinformatic strategies for better understanding of immune function

Chair: Hans-Georg Rammensee

256 Cancer and inflammation

Chair: Siamon Gordon

The Novartis Foundation is an international scientific and educational charity which promotes the study and general knowledge of science and in particular encourages international co-operation in scientific research.

Chair's Introduction (J. Bach).

Thymic generation and selection of CD25⁺CD4⁺ regulatory T cells; implicaitons of their broad repertoire and high self-reactivity for the maintenance of immunological self-tolerance (S. Sakaguchi, et al. ).

Control of Tcell activation by CD4⁺CD25⁺ suppressor T cells (E.M. Shevach, et al.).

Regulaton of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) by CD4⁺CD25⁺ regulatroy T cells (A.P. Kohm, et al.).

The role of CD28 and CTLA4 in the function of homeostasis of CD4⁺CD25⁺ regulatory T cells (E. Boden, et al.).

CD4⁺CD25⁺ regulatory cells from human peripheral blood express very high levels of CD25 ex vivo (C. Baecher-Allan, et al.).

Control of immune pathology by regulatory Tcells (F. Powrie, et al.).

General discussion I TGFß.

Type 1 T regulatory cells and their relationship with CD4⁺CD2 5⁺  T regulatory cells (M.G. Roncarolo, et al.).

(PRO)insulin-specific regulatory T cells (L.C. Harrison, et al.).

CD1d-restricted NKT regulatory cells: functional genomic analyses provide new insights into mechanism of protection against Type 1 diabetes (Q. Mi, et al.).

Seven surprises in the TCR-centred regulation of immune responsiveness in an autoimmmune system (E. Sercarz, et al.).

Regulatory cells in transplantation (K.J. Wood, et al.).

CD4⁺ regulatory T cells in chronic viral infection (K.J. Hasenkrug).

General discussion II.

Modulation of T cell responses after cross-talk between antigen presenting cells and T cells: a give-and-take relationship (M.H.M. Wauben, et al.).

Dendritic cells: controller of the immune system and a new promise for immunotherapy (J. Banchereau, et al.).

Regulation of viral and autoimmune responses (C. Asseman, et al.).

General discussion III Active immune regulation.

Notch signalling in the peripheral immune system (M.J. Dallman, et al.).

CD3 antibody treament stimulates the functional capability of regulatory T cells (L. Chatenoud).

The role of dendritic cells in regulating mucosal immunity and tolerance (A. Mowat, et al.).

Index of Contributors.

Subject Index.