Cells of the Innate Immune SystemRoles in health and disease

Over the past decade, innate immunity has undergone an explosive development, placing it on a par with adaptive immunity. The innate response serves to protect the host against infection; it consists of evolutionarily ancient mechanisms able to recognize and respond rapidly, but non-specifically, to diverse micro-organisms and injurious stimuli through... read moregenomically hard wired receptors, signals and products. It also serves to induce, regulate or suppress specific immune responses mediated by B and T lymphocytes. Excessive or insufficient innate immunity causes a wide range of inflammatory diseases, and provides targets for treatment.

Given the success of an earlier Henry Stewart Talks series dealing with cellular and molecular aspects of innate immunity, the present series focuses on the cellular components of the innate immune system, as well as intra and extracellular mediators of physiologic and pathologic aspects of their functions. It emphasizes pathogenic mechanisms of disease in selected tissue microenvironments, such as the lung, gut, eye and adipose tissue. The contributors represent a range of internationally prominent experts, who are excellent, authoritative speakers. The coverage is comprehensive, with care to avoid unnecessary overlap between topics in this series and with topics covered by the previous series available in the Bio-medical and Life Sciences Collection.