Osteoimmunology: Interactions of the Immune and Skeletal Systems, Second Edition, explores the advancements that have been made in the field during the last 40 years, including valuable information on our understanding of the interactions between hematopoietic, immune, and bone cells, now known as the field of osteoimmunology. This comprehensive work offers the most extensive summaries of research trends in the field and their translation into new therapeutics. Early chapters deal with the development of osteoblasts, osteoclasts, hematopoietic stem cells, T and B-lymphocytes, and communications between these cellular elements, while later sections contain discussions of the signaling pathways by which RANKL influences osteoclast development and function. Subsequent chapters explore the effects that estrogen has on bone and the immune system, the development of pathologic conditions, and the growing research around osteoporosis, Paget's disease, the genetics of bone disease, and bone cancer metastasis.

This important new book focuses on the involvement of cytokines in specific areas of inflammatory diseases, such as granulomatous responses, lung disease, hepatic dysfunction and the acute phase, arthritis and accompanying bone remodeling, neurogenic inflammation, and shock. The roles of GM-CSF, IL-6, IL-2, TGFb EGF, and LIF are discussed, as well as the medical treatments that affect cytokine activity. The results of approaches important to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, such as the search for endogenous biological response modifiers that control cytokine function or production, attempts to synthesize heterocyclic compounds in the organic chemistry lab, and research regarding second messenger pathways involved in IL-1 and TNF production are examined. This book will provide anyone in cytokine research, especially clinical investigators, pharmaceutical industry researchers, and academic research scientists, with important information on how cytokine research might be used.