الصفحة 1
الصفحة 1
Mechanisms of Angiogenesis
Is it advisable to go back from bedside to the bench? During the last decade, few topics encountered such a broad interest in bio- gy and medicine as angiogenesis. The amazing ability of the body to restore blood flow by induction of blood vessel growth as part of an adaptive process has alarmed physicians dealing with diseases in which angiogenesis is either exaggerated (as in tumors) or too slow (as in ischemic diseases of heart and brain). Not surprisingly, pro- and antiangiogenic strategies have found their way into clinical trials. For instance, for the USA, the NIH website in early 2004 displayed 38 clinical studies involving either pro- or antiangiogenic th- apies. Given the expected overwhelming wealth of clinical data, the question may be asked whether further exploration of biological mechanisms is required or whether results from the bedside are instructive enough to proceed. This question depends also on the progress of pro- and antiangiogenic clinical trials. In the following, I give a short overview about some of the progress that has been made in this field. Since Judah Folkman proposed antiangiogenic tumor therapy thirty years ago, it has become increasingly evident that agents which interfere with blood vessel formation also block tumor progression. Accordingly, antiangiogenic therapy has gained much attention as a potential adjunct to conventional c- cer therapy.
Immunology of Pregnancy
Reproductive Immunology is a growing area in both immunology and reproductive sciences and is helping us to better understand several complications of pregnancy. Immunology of Pregnancy is the first book to give a complete and up to date review of our knowledge related to the role of the immune system during pregnancy and the interactions between the placenta and the maternal immune system. This new title covers in detail all the different hypotheses and studies related to the immunology of implantation and provide a practical approach for the application of basic reproductive immunology research to pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, pre-term labor and IUGR.
Heat shock proteins : Potent mediators of inflammation and immunity
Written by leaders in the field of heat shock protein immunobiology, the chapters systematically and in a step wise fashion takes the reader through the fascinating sequence of events by which heat shock proteins activate immune responses and provides answers as to its biological significance to the host.
Fatty acids
Fatty acid metabolism, including the de novo synthesis, uptake, oxidation, and derivation of fatty acids, plays several important roles at cellular and organ levels. Recent studies have identified characteristic changes in fatty acid metabolism in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) lungs, which implicates its dysregulation in the pathogenesis of this disorder. Here, we review the evidence for how fatty acid metabolism contributes to the development of pulmonary fibrosis, focusing on the profibrotic processes associated with specific types of lung cells, including epithelial cells, macrophages, and fibroblasts. We also summarize the potential therapeutics that target this metabolic pathway in treating IPF.
Current Concepts in Autoimmunity and Chronic Inflammation
The ethiopathologies of autoimmune diseases are complex. A broad variety of cell types and gene products are involved. This book explores clinical and experimental evidence suggesting that the importance of an individual factor changes during the course of the disease.
Lung biology and pathophysiology
The lungs are the organ for gas exchange between the body and the external environment. Dysfunction of upper airway epithelium and smooth muscle cells leads to pathogenesis of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis, and other conditions, resulting in airway inflammation and narrowing. Injury to alveolar epithelium and endothelium causes influx of neutrophil and protein-rich fluid from circulation, resulting in edema and disruption of gas exchange. In addition to lung structural cells, immune cells, including alveolar macrophages and lymphocytes play critical roles in the maintenance of lung function. This book contributes to the understanding homeostasis of lung cells in the physiological and pathological conditions critical to the development of novel therapeutics.
Liver Immunology : Principles and Practice
parasitic and viral infections of the liver, autoimmune liver disease, alcoholic and nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases, and transplantation in an easy-to-read and thorough format. Authors also address the key issues that have arisen in this field in recent years, including physiological roles of hepatocytes, sinusoidal lining cells, activated macrophages (Kupffer cells), cholangiocytes and stellate cells, and their modulation of T cells, natural killer (NK) cells and NKT cells.
Angiogenesis in Inflammation : Mechanisms and Clinical Correlates
This volume relates the lessons learned from tumour biology applied to inflammation. This issue of Angiogenesis in Inflammation: Mechanisms and Clinical Correlates develops current knowledge on the mechanisms at the molecular and cellular levels as they relate to inflammation, including acute and chronic inflammation, neurogenic initiation, and the role of the multiple cellular components that comprise inflammation: granulocytes, macrophages, fibroblasts, dendritic cells and lymphocytes. This is related to inflammatory disease: not only the familiar angiogenesis dependent diseases of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, but also loci such as the lung, gastric ulcers, the eye with uveitis, wound healing and periodontal disease and their therapy, how this knowledge may be used in the discovery of novel therapeutics. The volume brings together experts in each of these fields to link the molecular and cellular processes in angiogenesis to those of inflammation and disease, culminating in a discourse on areas for future therapies.
Advances in Molecular Oncology
Proceedings of the 2nd Annual IFOM-IEO Meeting on Cancer. This is a new meeting, it has about 200 attendees from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA. The 2nd IFOM-IEO international meeting on cancer will provide a forum in which the world’s leading cancer researchers and young scientists will discuss the latest advances in molecular oncology. The impact of recent breakthroughs in basic research and of emerging technologies on molecular medicine in cancer will be highlighted.
