The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIVs), in particular HIV-1, are the causative agent responsible for the current worldwide epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). A major effort has thus been underway over the past two decades to understand and control this pathogen. During this time, an enormous knowledge base has accumulated regarding the role of viral factors in the HIV-1 life cycle, and the interaction of HIV-1 with the host cell is becoming increasingly understood. Certain features of HIV, for example its ability to infect non-dividing cells, are being exploited in the...

Insulin-like growth factors are ubiquitously expressed and are crucial for growth and function of almost all cells. Together with their binding proteins and receptors, they form a widely studied biological system involving many proteins and characterized by complex interactions. In addition to its significance in growth and development, the insulin-like growth factor system also has important roles in a wide variety of pathological states. This has led to interest in the therapeutic potential of insulin-like growth factors and their binding proteins as candidate drug targets.
This...

Chagas' disease, which results from infection with the single cell parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is a debilitating condition that is a major problem in many parts of Latin America. Rapid technical progress is now facilitating dissection of the molecular mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, a process that will ultimately provide new strategies to alleviate the enormous public health burden associated with the infection. In this book, international experts review the buoyant status of Chagas' disease research as we enter the "post-genome" era and speculate on how the new findings will...

MALT Lymphomas is a multidisciplinary book that covers all the aspects of MALT lymphomas, from the molecular biology, the aetiology and the pathology, to all the possible therapeutic approaches. Extranodal marginal zone B cell lymphoma of MALT type (MALT lymphoma) is one of the lymphoma subtypes that has allowed us some of the most interesting steps forward in the understanding and treatment of human cancers.

The eight contributions have been written by a team of international experts and represent an essential reading for oncologists, haematologists,...

Oral tolerance is a major immunological property of the gastrointestinal mucosa. It plays a critical role in immune defence by preventing inflammatory and allergic responses to dietary and non pathogenic microbial antigens. The interest in oral tolerance has been renewed in the recent years, due to novel insights on its cellular mechanisms and potential clinical applications in the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Oral Tolerance: Cellular and Molecular Basis, Clinical Aspects, and Therapeutic Potential, has been designed as a concise yet comprehensive overview of the...

In the past five years, a large number of new chemokines and chemokine receptors have been identified. Alarming progress in the areas of bioinformatics and expressed sequence tag (EST) databases attributed to this development. Recent discoveries provide compelling evidences supporting the roles of these messengers and their receptors in the control of viral infection as well as in aiding virus survival.
Chemokines in Viral Infections is the first to provide a comprehensive write up on the various evidences available to date on the interactions between host chemokine...

Although, Phagocytosis was first described nearly 120 year ago, we are just recently beginning to understand the molecules that phagocytic cells use to bring about this complex cell function. Molecular Mechanisms of Phagocytosis was prepared as a series of up-to-date essays (chapters) that describe the present knowledge on the various steps of the phagocytic process from initial cell contact, through internalization of the foreign particle, to the final phagosome formation where the phagocytosed particle is destroyed.

Lysosomes are membrane-surrounded organelles which are present in all animal cells. The importance of this organelle is underlined by an increasing number of human diseases, which are associated with an impaired function of the lysosomal compartment.

This book summarizes the current state-of-the art knowledge about this unique organelle. It addresses the biogenesis of this compartment, the transport of lysosomal proteins, the role of the lysosomal membrane in lysosomal stability and transport, the function of lysosomal proteases and hydrolases, lysosomal storage disorders, and new...

apid progress in the understanding of carcinogenesis and pathology of epitheUal skin cancer has led to new strategies for the prevention Rand treatment of these malignancies. The goal of this volume is to comprehensively cover in a highly readable overview our present knowledge of pathogenetic mechanisms and molecular biology of Basal Cell and Squamous Cell Carcinomas. Topics that are discussed in-depth by leading researchers and clinicians range from the newest findings in epidemiology, histology, photobiology, immunology, cytogenetics, and molecular pathol ogy to new concepts for...

This book covers in detail contemporary hypotheses and studies related to the immunology of implantation and provides a practical approach for the application of basic reproductive immunology research to pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, pre-term labor and IUGR. Provides complete and up to date review of current knowledge of the role of the immune system during pregnancy and the interactions between the placenta and the maternal immune system.