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The immune system and the central nervous system operate in very different ways, but the dual use of the major histocompatibility complex for CD8+ T cell monitoring and pheromone presentation indicates some commonalities exist.
Although most immunologists do not routinely combine experiments with theoretical and mathematical modeling, new insights can be gained from this interdisciplinary approach. But what makes a good theoretical model?
Despite advances in understanding HIV pathogenesis, the economic, social and legal constraints in India continue to make women particularly vulnerable to HIV infection.
Although immunologists have found the dichotomous helper T cell subset model a useful construct, it is beginning to show its age. Some suggest that proponents of the TH1-TH2 dichotomy are overzealous in making the data conform to the scheme, like Procrustes who stretched or truncated his guests so that they would fit his guest bed.
Historical insight: Immunology's founding fathers argued fiercely about whether Metchnikoff's phagocytes or Ehrlich's antibodies were the most important mediators of immunity. Antibodies won out, but even after lymphocytes re-established cellular immunology, the humoralist-cellularist divide persisted.
The Midwinter Conference of Immunologists is a popular annual fixture for immunologists to discuss the hot topics in immunology while enjoying the mild weather of the West Coast.
Due to an ever-increasing elderly population, there is a mounting drive to understand immunological defects associated with aging. However, the history of aging research and the very nature of the research itself has hampered progress.
TREC assays are used to detect recent thymic emigrants and quantitate thymic output. However, the longevity of naive T cells combined with T cell division suggest TREC data should be interpreted with caution.
Historical Insight: During those periods when immunology was oriented toward medical or biological subjects, Darwinian concepts predominated. These included Metchnikoff's phagocytic theory and Ehrlich's receptor theory during the early years and Burnet's clonal selection theory after the 1950s. During the immunochemically oriented interim, instruction theories were not so much anti- as a-Darwinian.
