It has been said that the development of vaccines against a variety of infectious diseases is among the greatest triumphs of immunology. Indeed, several pathogens have lost their horror through the availability of effective vaccination measures. Unfortunately, this does not hold true for the pathogens dealt within this volume. Malaria, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, leprosy, and tuberculosis together are prevalent in more than 100 countries, and over 400 million persons suffer from these diseases. It is becoming increasingly clear that the failure to control these infections in a...

Heat shock proteins are produced when a cell is stressed by various environmental insults. Their omnipresence and extraordinary conservation in function and structure have few, if any, precedence in biology. This volume, containing contributions by well-known experts in the field, summarizes recent progress concerned with the role of heat shock proteins in immunology. Eleven outstanding chapters include topics such as the chaperonin function of heat shock proteins, their role in immunoglobulin assembly and antigen processing, as well as their involvement in inflammation. Due to their...