Abstract
The remarkable progress in basic immunological research during the past 50 years can account for the emerging of medical or clinical immunology as a novel discipline, which may be defined as the application of basic immunology rules to the diagnosis, treatment, and prophylactics of patients with diseases in which immunological pathways may play an important etiological and/or pathogenetic role. The immune system has a central role not only in fighting infections, but also in many other diseases and disorders including cancer, AIDS, and organ transplantation. In addition, the immune system imbalance is responsible for primary and secondary immunodeficiencies, hypersensitive illnesses, such as asthma, dermatitis, and other allergies, as well as systemic and organ-specific autoimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. Immune-mediated diseases such as autoimmune diseases and allergic diseases are important health problems in many countries. For instance, autoimmune diseases afflict up to 8% of the United States population; allergic diseases represent the sixth leading cause of chronic illness and disability in the United States, and the leading cause among children. Thus, immune-mediated diseases represent an enormous medical, social, and economical problem and require serious and instant attention from clinicians, scientists, pharmacists, and biotech professionals. The goal of the Second International Immune-Mediated Diseases (IMD) Congress was to advance medical and biomedical immunological sciences and clinical practice via the organization of multiple sessions and training courses as well as providing an environment for stimulating scientific discussions, the exchange of ideas, and consideration of novel clinical diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Selected contributions from the participants of this Congress who are eager to share some of the academic and clinical enthusiasm are presented in this issue (and the subsequent issue) of the Journal of Immunotoxicology.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
The Immune-Mediated Diseases (IMD) II Congress was held in Moscow, Russia on September 10–15, 2007. A previous IMD I Congress in Moscow in October of 2005 opened the unique opportunity for the Eastern Europe Immunological community to host and interact with leading basic and clinical immunologists from around the world and to introduce its own experimental and clinical experience related to the diagnosis or treatment of a variety of immune-mediated diseases. The idea for the International IMD Congress was born in 2003 as a result of multiple discussions between Drs. Michael R. Shurin (Pittsburgh, PA), Ron N. Apte (Beer-Sheva, Israel), and Andrey A. Zozulya (Moscow, Russia) about the uneven development of immunological ideas and progress in immunological science in Western and Eastern countries during the last century.
The title of the meeting “Immune-Mediated Diseases: From Theory to Therapy” was developed by Dr. Sergei N. Belenky from Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology Pediatric Alliance (Pittsburgh, PA) and the slogan “Better living through immunology” was introduced by Diane DuBois form Clinical Immunopathology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) (Pittsburgh, PA). Michelle Failing from the Department of Immunology, UPMC (Pittsburgh, PA) designed the emblem and Internet site of the Congress and helped with arranging more than 70 sessions of the First IMD Congress, which attracted almost 2000 participants. After the grand success of IMD I Congress, the Second International IMD Congress was then scheduled and in 2007 it brought to Moscow researchers, clinicians, and biotechnology-related participants from 35 countries, who submitted abstracts, prepared posters or oral presentations or participated in various sessions of the meeting. Both Congresses were organized by the Local and International Organizing Committees led, respectively, by Drs. Yuri S. Smolkin and Michael R. Shurin.
The goal of IMD Congress was to advance the medical and biomedical immunological sciences and clinical practice via the organization of multiple sessions and training courses as well as providing an environment stimulating scientific discussions, exchange of ideas, and considering novel clinical diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. IMD Congress thus was serving biomedical scientists and researchers, primary care physicians, medical residents and fellows, nurses, medical technologists, postdoctoral fellows, medical and graduate students and everybody who was interested in recent developments in the fields of basic, clinical, laboratory and medical immunology.
IMMUNE-MEDIATED DISEASES
The immune system plays a central role not only in fighting infections, but also in many other diseases and medical conditions including, for instance, cancer, trauma, and organ transplantation. In addition, the immune system is a key player in etiology and pathogenesis of hypersensitive illnesses, such as asthma, dermatitis and other allergies, as well as systemic and organ-specific autoimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. According to the modern and generally accepted point of view, immune-mediated diseases are represented by a big group of the diseases of the immune system and even a larger group of the diseases directly or indirectly associated with the immune system. The diseases of the immune system include (i) primary or inherited, and secondary or acquired, immunodeficiencies and (ii) immunoproliferative disorders, such as malignancies of the immune system (e.g., multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and leukemia), autoimmune diseases (i.e., rheumatoid arthritis), and immune hypersensitivities (i.e., allergies). The disorders where the immune system is not the primary cause of a disease, although plays an obvious role in the pathogenesis, include, for instance, cancer, infectious diseases, and conditions associated with organ or tissue transplantation (i.e., graft-versus-host disease).
The study of the immune system has lead to significant findings in many fields of medicine and biology and resulted in the discovery of novel and unique substances and reagents that are now widely used for diagnosis, monitoring and therapy of a variety of different diseases. The development of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines against many infectious agents, as well as innovative immunotherapeutic and immune gene therapeutic approaches for patients with cancer, allergy or immunodeficiency, has substantially decreased mortality and morbidity and improved the life style, life expectancy, and well being of the millions of patients with immune-mediated and immune-associated diseases.
Thus, the field of immune-mediated diseases is of continuously escalating import, as well as scientifically, economically and socially important significance. These IMD Congresses allow scientists, clinicians, medical practitioners and specialists, students, R&D experts, and patients to meet and discuss the latest therapeutic, preventive, and diagnostic developments in the field. Accordingly, the IMD II Congress covered multiple topics ranging from immunodeficiency to the problems in immunological education ().
TABLE 1 Topics of Second International Immune-Mediated Diseases Congress
CONGRESS OVERVIEW
Congress Chairs Dr. Olivera J. Finn (Chair, Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh, as well American Association of Immunologists [AAI] President) and Dr. Rakhim M. Khaitov (Director of State Research Center, Institute of Immunology, Moscow, Russia) () opened the Second International IMD Congress. The Keynote Lecture on “Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases: What's Shared and What's Distinct” was given by Dr. Subrata Ghosh (Imperial College London). Overall, the IMD Congress II consisted of 9 Plenary sessions, 36 Symposia, and 30 Workshops covering various aspects of immune-associated diseases - with special attention given to innovative therapeutic modalities, allergy and asthma, immunodeficiency, tumor and transplant immunology, immunotherapy and vaccines, HIV and infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, inflammation, immunomonitoring, and immunodiagnostics.
FIG. 1 Organizers of, and participants in, the Second International Immune-Mediated Diseases Congress in Moscow, Russia. From left to right: Michael R. Shurin (Pittsburgh, PA), Larisa Geskin (Pittsburgh, PA), Joost J. Oppenheim (Frederic, MD), Olivera J. Finn (Pittsburgh, PA), Rakhim M. Khaitov (Moscow, Russia), and Xuetao Cao (Shanghai, China).
Outstanding lectures on a topic of particular interest to the IMD Congress, i.e., the regulatory mechanisms of immunity, were delivered by Dr. Joost J. Oppenheim (Frederic, MD) who spoke on “Alarmins as Novel Cytokine-like Danger Signals,” and by Dr. Rakhim M. Khaitov (Moscow, Russia) who spoke about “MHC genes”. Regulatory cells were discussed in lectures on “CCR7 in Treg Functioning” by Dr. Antal Rot (Vienna, Austria), “Therapeutically Inducing Adaptive Tregs” by Dr. Matthias von Herrath (La Jolla, CA), “Redirecting Effector and Regulatory T-Cells with Antibody Specificity” by Dr. Zelig Eshhar (Rehovot, Israel), and “Genetic Control of Immunoregulatory NKT Cells” by Dr. Alan G. Baxter (Townsville, Australia). Furthermore, Dr. Joseph A. Trapani (Melbourne, Australia) talked about “Function Analysis of Lymphocyte Perforin,” Dr. Eitan Yefenof (Jerusalem, Israel) discussed “Apoptotic Sensitivity of T-Lineage Cells to Glucocorticoid Hormones,” and Dr. Svetlana Bykovskaya (Moscow, Russia) presented intriguing data on “Therapeutic Effect of Regulatory T-Cells in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.” Novel discoveries in cytokine research were presented by Dr. Sergei Nedospasov (Moscow, Russia) talking about “Distinct Functions of TNF and Lymphotoxin”, Dr. Elena Voronov (Beer Sheva, Israel) showing a “New Role for IL-1 in Angiogenesis,” and Eva Dahlén (Lund, Sweden) on “Mutant Forms of IL-1 Receptor Antagonist for Arthritis Therapy.”
Another important area of ongoing research is the immunobiology of dendritic cells, and several very informative lectures addressed this issue. These included those from Dr. Xuetao Cao (Shanghai, China) on “Toll-like Receptors, Antigen-Presenting Cells, and Immune Regulation,” Dr. Natalija Novak (Bonn, Germany) on “The Role of Dendritic Cells in Allergic Diseases,” Dr. Giorgio Trinchieri (Frederick, MD) on “Cytokines and Dendritic Cells at the Interface of Innate Resistance and Adaptive Immunity,” Dr. Simon Watkins (Pittsburgh, PA) on “Novel Processing Mechanisms in Dendritic Cells,” and Dr. Michael R. Shurin (Pittsburgh, PA) on “The Role of Dendritic Cells in Immune Escape Processes.”
The topics of tumor immunology and immunotherapy were the focus of many interesting talks as well. These included those presented by Dr. Olivera J. Finn (Pittsburgh, PA) on “Human Tumor Antigens in Cancer Immunosurveillance,” Dr. Tomas Sayers (Frederic, MD) on “Sensitizing Tumor Cells to Immune-Mediated Cytotoxicity,” Dr. Barbara Seliger (Halle, Germany) on “Differential Regulation of MHC Class I Antigen Processing Pathway in Tumors,” Dr. John C. Morris (Frederic, MD) on “Receptor-Directed Targeting with Monoclonal Anti-bodies in T-Cell Lymphoproliferative Disorders,” Dr. Arthur A. Hurwitz (Frederic, MD) on “T-Cell Tolerance to Prostate Cancer Antigens,” Dr. Francesco M. Marincola (Bethesda, MD) on “Tumor Escape Mechanisms and the Role of the Microenvironment,” and Dr. Federico Garrido (Granada, Spain) on “MHC Antigens in Tumor Immune Escape.”
Several sessions were dedicated to the discussion of modern problems in transplantation immunology. Of note in these sessions were lectures given by Dr. Rene Duquesnoy (Pittsburgh, PA) on “Mechanisms of Rejection and Acceptance,” Dr. Nancy Reinsmoen (Los Angeles, CA) on “New Approaches for Defining HLA and Non-HLA-Specific Antibodies,” Dr. Anna Valujskikh (Cleveland, OH) on “Memory T-Cells in Allograft Rejection,” and Dr. Adriana Zeevi (Pittsburgh, PA) on “Clinical Significance of Cytokine Gene Polymorphism in Solid Organ Transplantation.”
In addition to these multiple IMD symposia, there were three special satellite symposia organized by Dr. Hans Ochs (Seattle, WA) on “Primary Immunodeficiency,” Dr. Ari Zimran (Ierusalem, Israel) on “Gaucher Disease,” and Dr. Larisa Geskin (Pittsburgh, PA) on “Immune Dysregulation in Skin Diseases.” Last, the winners of the Travel and Best Poster Presentations at this conference were announced. For this Second Congress, these were Drs. Natali Aptsiauri (Granada, Spain), Jeff L. Ellsworth (Seattle, WA), Shah-Hwa Chou (Kaohsiung, Taiwan), Yulia A. Vavilenkova (Smolensk, Russia), and Maciej Jankowski (Posnan, Poland).
SUMMARY
The field of immune-mediated diseases is one of continuously escalating import, as well as scientifically, economically, and socially important significance. With a unique research background and the accessibility of new research tools, we can foresee that our joint basic and applied research programs will further reinforce our fight against allergic, malignant, infectious, and autoimmune diseases, as well as advance our defenses against potential bioterroristic attacks.
The IMD Congress clearly demonstrated that by supporting open communication between scientists and clinicians, and sharing ideas, hypotheses, and plans, we could not only accelerate progress in immunological research but also change and often save patients' life. We truly believe that a “BETTER LIFE THROUGH IMMUNOLOGY” can be achieved by: (i) promoting basic and clinical research in immunology, (ii) integrating immunological research and educational activities, (iii) disseminating information and encouraging international collaborations, (iv) identifying ways to improve the quality of immunological research and clinical care, (v) encouraging and providing training and continuous medical and biomedical education at different levels for all interested parties, and (vi) promoting novel preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic modalities and good patient care in all countries.
We gratefully acknowledge GTCbio (http://www.gtcbio.com) for outstanding help with the IMD Congress organization.