Analysis of multidirectional immunological responses at the tumor site allows forming a new concept of The Tumor Immunoenvironment, which is introduced and discussed in the present book with a particular focus on the role of immune cells in controlling the tumor microenvironment at different stages of cancer development. The main goal of this publication is to provide an overview of the current knowledge on the complex and unique role of the immune system, tumor-associated inflammation and tumor-mediated immunomodulation in cancer progression in a way that allows understanding the logistics of cellular and molecular interactions in the tumor lesions.

This volume is devoted to the application of microorganisms in medical treatment and health protection. Topics discussed include the role of probiotics in immune modulation, in prevention of influenza, and in atopic dermatitis. Further chapters cover aspects such as the relation of the gut microbiome and stress, the immune system, the regulation of inflammation, the benefits of Bifidobacterium for infants, and bacteriocin in medical applications, as well as the use of in vitro models of the gastrointestinal tract, omics approaches for targeting microbial health potential and the production of hepatitis B vaccines. This volume will be of particular interest to scientists working in the fields of clinical medicine, applied microbiology, pharmacy and public health.

Malaria causes more death and disease than any other parasitic pathogen known today. This multiauthored text covers the important areas of malaria research, particularly focusing on those sectors which are of clinical importance for the understanding of the disease, the parasite, and its vector.
The chapter authors are all leading experts within their own particular fields. The biology and molecular biology of the parasite, the clinical spectrum of the disease, the pathogenesis of malaria, and the immunology and emergence of malaria vaccines are some examples of the scientific spheres that are discussed.
The book is suitable as a text for graduate students and clinicians as well as researchers at universities and companies involved in treating or studying infectious diseases.

Offering a basis for further research into the interactions of hosts and pathogens, this work gathers up-to-date findings, and details basic structures, functions and immunology. It provides descriptions of a variety of experimental endotoxin neutralizing agents, as well as a guide to clinical research initiatives and the latest treatments.

This collection explores state-of-the-art methods and protocols for research on photodynamic therapy (PDT) and its use in a wide range of medical applications, from antiviral to anticancer. Beginning with an extensive section on in vitro and in vivo models, the volume continues with chapters on oxygen-independent photosensitizers, next-generation photosensitization strategies, contemporary insights into the immunomodulatory effects of PDT, antimicrobial effects of PDT, as well as a variety of general biochemical and molecular biological techniques. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include the kind of detailed implementation advice that ensures successful results in the lab. Thorough and authoritative, Photodynamic Therapy: Methods and Protocols serves as an ideal source of inspiration for both new and established PDT scientists and a guide for designing innovative research programs in this continuously advancing and multidisciplinary field.

"Theoretically, one should obtain essentially the same clinical picture from failure of an end-organ to respond to a hormone as from a decreased production or absence of said hormone. " With these words, Fuller Albright began his now classic paper describing a novel disease, pseudo hypoparathyroidism (PHP), and a novel concept, hormone resis- tance as a cause of disease. Soon, other hormone resistance disorders such as nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI) were recognized, and the concept was extended to resistance to other substances such as calcium ions in familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia (FHH). Later, diseases characterized by excess rather than deficient hormone action such as McCune-Albright syndrome (MAS) and familial male precocious puberty (FMPP) were recognized to be caused by autonomous endocrine hyperfunction. Although many i!!vestigators provided careful and detailed descriptions of the clinical features of these and other related endocrine disorders, an understanding of pathogenesis proved elusive for many years. In just the past few years, we have gone from clinical description to a molecular understanding of these interesting disorders. This remarkable progress reflects a synthe- sis of three distinct, but now overlapping, areas of biomedical research: the aforemen- tioned recognition and careful clinical description of specific diseases, the elucidation of the basic mechanisms of signal transduction, and the application of the powerful tools of molecular biology and genetics. Fundamental studies on the mechanisms of hormone action by Rodbell and colleagues at NIH culminated in the discovery of a major signal transduction pathway involving heterotrimeric G proteins.

Recent research has revealed the importance of immunological mechanisms and inflammation in delaying damage and/or promoting repair after an acute injury to the central nervous system. This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the role of immunological mechanisms and therapies for treating acute neurological injuries such as cerebral ischemia, hemorrhage, and brain and spinal cord trauma. In several sections, the contributing authors provide a review of immunological mechanisms involved in neurological injury and of various translational and clinical research aimed at harnessing those mechanisms for better patient outcomes.

Designed with academic vaccine researchers in mind, this book presents a road map of how a vaccine develops from an idea in a researcher's imagination, to the lab bench, through preclinical evaluation, and into the clinic for safety and immunogenicity. The result of the editors' own efforts to glean practical information on the steps necessary to manufacture, bottle, and test their vaccines for clinical trials, this book provides answers to researcher questions such as:
o How do I identify antigens that would produce effective vaccines?
o Can I produce a clinical lot of vaccine in my laboratory?
o How should a vaccine be bottled?
o Which FDA expectations must I meet?
o What is an IND application and how do I file it?
o Which CFRs apply to production of a vaccine?

The most practical and clinical reasons for attempting to understand the immunology of infections and disease revolves around the CD137 and CD137/41BB receptor and ligand molecules. This book covers all aspects of CD137/4-1BB pathway research from microbiology, infectious disease, molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics to immune responses and potential applications in the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases. This pathway is emerging as one of the most important targets for manipulation of immune responses for disease diagnosis and treatment. This book is written by the man who discovered the CD-137 and B7H1 molecules in 1999.

This volume covers a broad range of methods, technologies, and protocols on malaria. Chapters detail research on collecting parasites in the field, single molecule-level analyses of adhesive interactions, and focused studies aiming at disrupting the devastating disease. Written in the format of the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, each chapter includes an introduction to the topic, lists necessary materials and reagents, includes tips on troubleshooting and known pitfalls, and step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Malaria Immunology: Targeting the Surface of Infected Erythrocytes aims to be a useful and practical guide to researches to help further their study in this field. Chapter Analysis of var gene transcription pattern using DBL -tags [Chapter 14] is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book discusses specific immune cell regulatory pathway(s), immune cell types, or other mechanisms involved in host responses to tuberculosis that can be potentially targeted for host-directed therapy (HDT). The pathways/mechanisms investigated are either protective - thus calling for pathway/factor enhancing drugs - or maladaptive - thus calling for pathway/factor inhibitory drugs. Discovery and development (pre-clinical and clinical) of candidate HDT agents will also be elucidated, as well as approaches for HDT of other diseases. The benefit to the reader will derive from learning about the biology of multiple host pathways involved in health and disease, how these pathways are disrupted or dysregulated during tuberculosis, and which druggable targets exist in these pathways. This book provides the reader with a roadmap of current and future directions of HDT against tuberculosis. Since the host pathways/factors involved in protective or maladaptive responses to tuberculosis are not disease-specific, information learned from the context of tuberculosis likely will be relevant to other infectious and non-infectious diseases.

Phagocytosis is the engulfment of particulate matter by cells. It is a fundamental (and probably "primitive") cell biological process which is important in single celled organisms such as amoeba; multicellular animals including coelenterates; and in higher animals. In humans and other mammals, specialised immune cells (phagocytes) utilise phagocytosis in their crucial role of engulfing and destroying infecting microbes. Yet, surprisingly, the biophysics and biochemistry underlying the process has only become clear recently with the advent of genetic manipulation and advances in single cell imaging. In this volume, the aim is to bring together recent fundamental advances that give a clear picture of the underlying mechanism involved in phagocytosis. Not only is this an important topic in its own right, but a full understanding of the process will have a potential impact on human medicine, since as antibiotics become less effective in fight infection, researchers are looking at alternative approaches, including enhancing the "natural" immunity brought about by immune phagocytes. The aim is to provide a comprehensive volume on the topic, with separate chapters on identified recent advances, each written by the major contributors in each area. In addition, the volume will attempt to give a wider overview than is often the case in single author reviews, with an emphasis here on the cell biological understanding of phagocytosis using biophysical approaches alongside the biochemical and imaging approaches.

This timely book discusses antimicrobial drug resistance, specifically, the resistance against the beta-lactam class of antibiotics by Gram-Negative bacteria. The book is broadly divided into five sections. The first section describes the underlying mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. It gives an insight into the beta-lactamases, their types, classification, inhibitors, etc. The second section delves deep into the genetic basis of resistance. It talks about transposons, integrons, insertion sequences associated with antibiotic-resistant genes. The next section describes phenotypic and molecular methods to detect beta-lactam resistance. The fourth section talks about the epidemiology and prevalence of beta-lactamases in the environment. The last section of the book describes the various therapeutic options to combat this growing public threat of antimicrobial resistance. It talks about the current reserve drugs, as well as the newer antibiotic agents that are in the pipeline. This book is essential for clinical practitioners, students, and researchers in basic and medical microbiology.

This detailed volume collects updates on the technical advances in hematopoietic stem cell research and incorporates new techniques focused on the molecular/genetic, cellular, and whole organism levels. Exploring methods that apply stress to hematopoiesis, the book also contains chapters focused on better understanding the role of hematopoietic niches and their cellular components, as well as in vivo models that test and quantitate stem cell function and are key to further development of therapeutic applications. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step and readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and up-to-date, Hematopoietic Stem Cells: Methods and Protocols serves as a valued addition to laboratories focused on understanding hematopoietic stem cell biology and the therapeutic advances that can be derived from it.

The collection of chapters in this proceeding volume reflects the latest research presented at the Aegean meeting on Tumor Microenvironment and Cellular Stress held in Crete in Fall of 2012. The book provides critical insight to how the tumor microenvironment affects tumor metabolism, cell stemness, cell viability, genomic instability and more. Additional topics include identifying common pathways that are potential candidates for therapeutic intervention, which will stimulate collaboration between groups that are more focused on elucidation of biochemical aspects of stress biology and groups that study the pathophysiological aspects of stress pathways or engaged in drug discovery.

The book presents current affairs of Sporotrichosis as emergent disease with emphasis on the potential factors associated with genetic polymorphisms in Sporothrix complex. Constitutive and inducible factors play an essential role in the response of the fungal cell to the environment as determinant in the immunopathogenicity, highlighting clinical forms of Sporotrichosis and host immunocompetence. Also, a current issue interest in zoonotic transmission showing that a cat is the animal species most affected by Sporothrix species and their importance in the involvement in the human transmission. Readers can associate parameters of experimental immune response to disease development as well as the diagnostic, prophylaxis, and therapies that can be applied in the near future.

Session I.- Breast Mucin and Associated Antigens in Diagnosis and Therapy.- Peptide Epitopes in Breast Cancer Mucins.- Does a Novel Form of the Breast Cancer Marker Protein, MUC1, Act as a Receptor Molecule that Modulates Signal Transduction?.- Cancer Metastasis Determined by Carbohydrate-Mediated Cell Adhesion.- Experimental Immunotherapy of Breast Cancer Using Alpha Interferon Conjugated to Monoclonal Antibody Mc5.- Circulating and Tissue Markers in the Longitudinal Management of Breast Cancer Patients.- Session II.- Engineering of Antibodies for Breast Cancer Therapy: Construction of Chimeric and Humanized Versions of the Murine Monoclonal Antibody BrE-3.- Humanization of an Anti-Mucin Antibody for Breast and Ovarian Cancer Therapy.- Towards an Immunotherapy for p185HER2 Overexpressing Tumors.- Session III.- Branching N-Linked Oligosaccharides in Breast Cancer.- Specificity of the IgG Response in Mice and Human Breast Cancer Patients Following Immunization Against Synthetic Sialyl-Tn, an Epitope with Possible Functional Significance in Metastasis.- Vaccination Against Breast Cancer - Studies in an Animal Model.- Anti-Idiotype Antibodies as Potential Therapeutic Agents for Human Breast Cancer.- The Simultaneous Expression of c-erbB-2 Oncoprotein and Laminin Receptor on Primary Breast Tumors has a Predicting Potential Analogous to that of the Lymph Node Status.- Multivariate Prognostic Model for Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma of the Breast in the Axillary Node-Free Patient.- The Use of Monoclonal Antibody Immunoconjugates in Cancer Therapy.- Radioimmunolocalization of Breast Cancer Using BrE-3 Monoclonal Antibody.- Suppression of Human Anti-Mouse Antibody Response to Murine Monoclonal Antibody L6 by Deoxyspergualin: A Phase I Study.- Overview of Radioimmunotherapy in Advanced Breast Cancer Using 1-131 Chimeric L6.- Contributors.

Wolf's discovery demonstrating that a reporter gene is expressed in myocytes subsequent to injection of naked DNA, was exploited by immunologists and vaccinologists to develop a new generation of vaccines. This observation galvanized the research and in a short lapse of time, an oceanic volume of knowledge has been accumulated. The research carried out in a variety of animal models showed the efficacy of genetic immunization against viruses, bacteria, and some parasites by the ability to induce a strong priming effect resulting from long-lasting persistence of plasmid as episomes. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that newborn or infant immune unresponsiveness to classical vaccines can be corrected by genetic immunization. The applications of genetic immunization for prophylaxis of infections was extended to immunotherapy, namely, cancerous, auto immune, and allergic diseases. Immunologists have provided pertinent information on the cellular basis of the immune responses elicited by genetic immunization, and molecular biologists have established the molecular basis of intrinsic adjuvant properties of plasmids."

Provides a detailed survey of new therapies for autoimmune diseases, exploring the rationale for their use and clinical data regarding their potential benefit. The book emphasizes biological interventions based on the pathogenesis of autoimmunity, ranging from altering tolerance to modifying cytokines and changing lymphocyte function.

Active specific immunotherapy is a promising but investigational modality in the management of cancer patients. Currently, several different cancer vaccine formulations such as peptides, proteins, antigen-pulsed dendritic cells, whole tumor cells, etc. in combination with various adjuvants and carriers are being evaluated in clinical trials (1-3). To determine the optimal cancer vaccine strategy, a surrogate immunological end-point that correlates with clinical outcome needs to be defined, since it would facilitate the rapid comparison of these various formulations. Traditional immunological assays such as ELISA, proliferation and cytotoxicity assays can detect immune responses in vaccinated patients but are not quantitative. In contrast, novel assays such as enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay, intracellular cytokine assay and tetramer assay can quantitate the frequency of antigen-specific T cells. Of these, the ELISPOT assay has the 5 lowest detection limit with 1/10 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and has been determined to be one of the most useful assays to evaluate immune response to cancer vaccines (4). However, the IFN-? ELISPOT assay is not an exclusive measure of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activity as non-cytotoxic cells can also secrete IFN-?. Additionally, CTL with lytic activity do not always secrete IFN-? (5). A more relevant approach to assess functional activity of cytotoxic lymphocytes would be to measure the secretion of molecules that are associated with lytic activity. One of the major mechanisms of cell-mediated cytotoxicity involves exocytosis of cytoplasmic granules from the effector toward the target cell.

Macrophages are a key component of the innate immune system and play an integral role in host defense and homeostasis. On one hand, these cells contribute to host defence by triggering inflammation, displaying microbicidal/tumoricidal properties, regulating the activation of adaptive immunity and promoting resolution of inflammation. On the other hand, they contribute to essential trophic functions such as neural patterning, bone morphogenesis and ductal branching in mammary glands. Thus, macrophages are extremely versatile cells that can respond efficiently to tissue micro environmental cues by polarizing to distinct phenotypes, depending on the functions they need to perform. Indeed, functional diversity and plasticity are hallmarks of these cells.

Macrophages may also play a detrimental role. An overwhelming body of literature has indicated their crucial role in pathogenesis. The list includes sepsis, cancer, metabolic syndrome, immunodeficiency, auto-immune disease-virtually impacting every major pathology that we know. These observations have suggested macrophages and their related molecules as potential targets in therapeutic applications. Available evidence proclaims macrophages as a key player in homeostasis, host defense and disease. Crucial developments in the past few years call for a re-evaluation and update of our understanding of macrophages. The present book is an endeavour that attempts provide state-of-the art knowledge of these cells in health and disease.

The lung forms an integral part of the body's immune system and is subject to a range of diseases which are either autoimmune in nature or have clear-cut immunological abnormalities. "Autoimmune Aspects of Lung Disease" provides a concise review of the lung's role in the immune system and a detailed account of both primary and secondary lung diseases which are characterised by immunological perturbation or frank autoimmunity. The volume presents a detailed, up-to-date account of disorders ranging from infection to neoplasia and is written in both an informative and stimulating style by a prestigious group of authors. The chapters are extensively referenced and provide numerous insights into the aetiopathogenesis and clinical features and treatment of immunologically-linked pulmonary disease. The book is intended as both an overview for physicians and scientists with an established interest in diseases of the lung, immunologists seeking to learn more about relevant disorders in the lung and general physicians, whether specialists or in training, seeking to enrich their knowledge of the links between the pulmonary and immune systems.