This volume features contributions from participants of the ESRF symposium on Immunotherapy in 2020 Visions and Trends for Targeting Inflammatory Diseases held in Potsdam near Berlin, Germany, in October 2006. The symposium presentations covered the main mechanisms of immunoregulation.

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Since 1948, hydrocortisone (cortisol), the principal glucocorticoid (GC) of the human adrenal cortex has been successfully used at phar macological concentrations for the suppression of clinical manifesta tions of rheumatoid arthritis. Numerous compounds with GC activity have also been developed and used. Fifty years after their initial clinical use, GCs are still the most im portant and frequently prescribed class of anti-inflammatory drugs for various inflammatory disorders. They are administered either orally, parenterally (intravenous, intramuscular, intrathecal), or topically (cu...