Developing Costimulatory Molecules for Immunotherapy of Diseases highlights the novel concept of reverse costimulation and how it can be effectively exploited to develop immunotherapy using either humanized antibodies against CD80, CD86, and other costimulatory molecules or CD28 fusinogenic proteins in the treatment of diseases, including allergies, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus nephritis, severe psoriasis, vulgaris tuberculosis, thopoid, transplantation therapeutic, cancer, and inflammation. The text aims to provide the latest information on the complex roles and interactions within the CD28 and B7 costimulatory families, with the hope that targeting these families will yield new therapies for the treatment of inflammation, autoimmunity, transplantation, cancer, and other infectious diseases.

Role of Tumor Microenvironment in Breast Cancer and Targeted Therapies discusses the current understanding of breast cancer tumor microenvironment components, their role in tumorigenicity and the development of therapeutic resistance, along with updates on recent advances.

Cytokine and Chemokine Networks in Cancer" provides a comprehensive exploration of the roles of cytokines and chemokines in cancer biology. It offers valuable insights into their diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic implications, making it a valuable resource for researchers, clinicians, and students interested in the field of cancer immunology and therapy. This book illustrates the importance and significance of the cytokine and chemokine signaling networks in tumor development and progression. It describes the complex networks mediated by cytokine and chemokine receptors promoting tumor cell proliferation, site-directed metastasis, and activation of angiogenic switch in tumor cells. The books also shed light on the heterogeneity of cytokines and chemokine in solid malignancies and their impact on tumor progression and therapeutic outcomes. The chapters provide current information about the types of cytokine-chemokine interactions in promoting cancer stem cell-like characteristics, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, and modulation of the tumor microenvironment. The significance of the complex interactions in cancer biology in the light of therapeutic resistance is also highlighted. The chapters also describe recent advancements in the therapeutic potential of targeting the pro-tumor cytokine and chemokine networks and limiting tumor cell metastasis. Finally, the book also provides a comprehensive yet representative description of a large number of challenges associated with targeting these vital chemokine-cytokine networks. Given its content, the book provides valuable information for researchers in the field of cancer biology and molecular medicine.

The book comprises of five chapters and describes the origin, production and scope of cytokines, which are the most important molecules of immune system around which the field of functional immunology revolves. This book describes how the immune system responds to injuries and insults by foreign antigens (bacteria, viruses etc.) and produces cytokines, which then, through various immune response mechanisms, protect the body against pathogenic invasions, how these glycoproteins are involved in the differentiation and maturation of immune cells, how lymph nodes are involved in concentrating the different forms of cytokines, how immunogenicity of a cytokine is affected and how a cytokine is related to the immune response. Various types of cytokines and the organization and expression of cytokine receptors are described separately. The properties, mechanistic function and therapeutic cytokines are also discussed in separate chapters. The characteristics, production and important roles played by different cytokines in research, diagnostics and therapeutics is described separately. Lastly the role of cytokines and chemokine's in infectious diseases and their importance in the detection of various kinds of diseases like cancer, HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria etc. are discussed in detail separately. The book contains a reasonable number of diagrams, flowcharts and tables. Besides this, various interesting and self-explanatory illustrations are incorporated to make the book useful to the students for whom it is written. The question bank, which includes long answer type, short answer type and multiple choice questions with their answers at the very end of each chapter, is developed to get a full grasp of the topic.

Strokes are a leading cause of brain injury that strike approximately 800,000 people per year in the US alone, killing about 150,000 meaning one death in every four minutes. According to World Health Organization, 15 million people suffer strokes world-wide each year and out of these, 5 million die and another 5 million are permanently disabled. Despite advances in stroke research during last decade, current strokes remain a vexing public health problem. Even with the onset of the 21st century, there is still no effective therapy for strokes beyond a limited group of patients who are treated with thrombolytics, which have significant adverse effects. This situation prevails despite intense research efforts and numerous clinical trials that have attempted to develop drugs to reduce morbidity and mortality from strokes. So far, drug development efforts have targeted modulators of ion channels (Ca2+and Na+), scavengers of oxygen radicals, and antagonists of excitotoxic neurotransmitters (primarily glutamate and glycine receptors). Despite tremendous progress in understanding the pathophysiology of a stroke, translation of this knowledge into effective therapies has largely failed, with the exception of thrombolysis, which only benefits a small proportion of patients. Systemic and local immune responses have important roles in causing stroke and are implicated in the primary and secondary progression of ischaemic lesions, as well as in repair, recovery, and overall outcome after a stroke. However, potential therapeutic targets in the immune system and inflammatory responses have not been well characterised. The development of novel and effective therapeutic strategies for strokes will require further investigation of these pathways in terms of their temporal profile (before, during, and after stroke) and risk-to-benefit therapeutic ratio of modulating them.

The book "Immunoglobulins, Magic Bullets and Therapeutic Antibodies" comprises of ten chapters and it describes the origin, history, timeline, production and scope of immunoglobulins which are the central molecules of the immune system around which the field of immunology revolves. This book describes how the immune system responds to injuries and insults by foreign antigens (bacteria, viruses etc) and produces immunoglobulins, which then through various immune response mechanisms protect the body against pathogenic invasions. Further, it discusses how these antigens are involved in the differentiation and maturation of immune cells, how lymph nodes are involved in concentrating the antigens, how immunogenicity of an antigen is affected and how antigenicity of immunogens is related to the immune response. Classification of immunoglobulins and the organization and expression of immunoglobulin genes is described separately. The antigen antibody interactions and antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity are also discussed in separate chapters. The magic bullets or monoclonal antibodies, which have revolutionized the field of immunology, are described in greater detail, their production by hybridoma technology and the important role played by these antibodies in research, diagnostics and therapeutics is also discussed in the book. Lastly the immunodiagnostic techniques like radioimmunoassay (RIA), Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), flowcytometry and their importance in the detection of various kinds of diseases like cancer, HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, etc. are discussed in detail as well in the book. The book contains a large number of flow charts, diagrams, depictions and tables highlighting the properties, characteristic features, functions and roles played by these immunoglobulins in various fields of biosciences.

Combinational Therapy in Triple Negative Breast Cancer discusses TNBC at the molecular level from a holistic approach, focusing on combinational strategies targeting various pathways involved in this specific cancer type. Using a monotherapy for the treatment of cancer, especially high-grade tumors like TNBC, is mostly worthless due to the inherent genetic instability of tumor cells to develop intrinsic and acquired resistance. Combination therapy presents more, or at least the same, effectiveness with lower doses of every single agent and decreases the likelihood of chemoresistance, making it essential to understand for multiple therapy options. The book is a valuable resource for cancer researchers, oncologists, graduate students and members of the biomedical field who are interested in the potential of combinational therapies to treat triple negative breast cancer.

The field of stroke research continues to evolve, and better outcomes are possible and even likely. Over the last two decades, basic science research in the field of stroke has elucidated multiple pathways of cellular injury and repair after cerebral ischemia, resulting in the identification of several promising targets for neuroprotection. Prevention and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases has been one of the primary goals of neuroscience research but unfortunately, to date, no such safe preventive agents are available. There is an urgent need for agents that are pharmacologically safe, cost-effective, and immediately available with minimal side effects. Although a considerable amount of research has been invested into the development of novel treatments capable of protecting the brain from damage following stroke, but with limited success. Currently, the only drug approved for the treatment of ischemic stroke is recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA, alteplase), which has a limited time window for administration and increases the risk for subsequent hemorrhage. This book assesses the immunobiology of stroke, natural herbs and human brain interaction, current evidence for the efficacy of a range of readily available plant-based extracts and chemicals that may improve brain function. They are discussed in terms of how an increased understanding of the relationship between their ecological roles and CNS effects might further the field of natural, phytochemical drug discovery. Numerous neuroprotective treatments have been identified that show great promise in animal models of stroke. In this book, we have also highlighted the promising targets of neuroprotection and the natural products from traditional medicinal herbs that exhibit protective effects on ischemic brain injury. Further the authors discuss the individual herbs, herbal cocktails and the components from herbs in neuroprotection. The book contains many diagrams and tables with highlighting the role of various herbs and their components in neuroprotection. A separate chapter has been included regarding polyphenols in neuroprotection.

Considering the global emerging human pathogenic microbial diseases and trends, Human Pathogenic Microbes is framed to provide deep insights into the epidemic and emerging bacterial and fungal infections and diseases in humans. It presents novel, up-to-date, and cutting-edge knowledge regarding various human pathogenic microbes, their associated drug resistance mechanisms, and different diseases caused by them. Human Pathogenic Microbes reflects the current research and development on the evolution of bacterial and fungal drug resistance: different bacterial and fungal antimicrobial drug resistance mechanisms along with their biological and molecular aspects. In a nutshell, Human Pathogenic Microbes describes a various bacterial and fungal diseases caused by different human pathogenic microbes employing different drug resistance mechanisms and processes. It also highlights the novel emerging approaches (Immunological and combinatorial) that will aid to fight against such bacterial and fungal pathogens.