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B cells can regulate many aspects of immune reactivity, as well as differentiate into antibody-producing cells. In SLE, a systemic autoimmune disease, recent research suggests enhanced B cell function is the defining pathogenic event.
The era of genomic-wide sequence analysis promises to yield new insights in global regulatory gene control. Comparative genome studies have identified a critical regulator of TH2 cytokine expression.
Dendritic cells can prime naïve lymphocytes. New data show how dendritic cells provide early activation cues by expression of IL-2, which may greatly enhance both T and B cell responses.
Although some cellular responses induced by TLRs are abolished in MyD88-deficient mice, TLR4, unlike TLR9, can still induce activation of NF-κB and MAPKs. The discovery of a cytoplasmic adapter protein for TLR4, called TIRAP, helps explain this phenomenon.
Type 1 diabetes is preventable in animal models and predictable in humans. The increase in our knowledge of basic immunology has allowed the initiation of large-scale clinical efforts to prevent diabetes.
Graves' disease and other autoimmune syndromes affecting the thyroid are the archetypes of organ-specific autoimmunity. Despite intensive research, the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to disease pathogenesis is not clear. Here, the latest developments in understanding the determinants of these diseases are discussed.
The development of increasingly powerful methods to stimulate anti-tumor immune responses carries the risk of breaking tolerance to self and causing autoimmune pathology. How concerned should we be?
In early July 2001 a small meeting was held in Baltimore on the associations of lymphomas with autoimmune conditions. Topics ranged from the effects of defective apoptosis to questions of antigen-drive lymphoproliferation.
Autoimmune diseases are more prevalent in women than men. A new interest in understanding the biology of this difference as well as funding opportunities have focused attention on research priorities in sex differences.