Novel molecular motifs named Immunoreceptor Tyrosine-based Inhibition Motifs (ITIMs) have recently been recognized in the intracytoplasmic domains of a still-increasing number of receptors which control cell activation and proliferation. Research on ITIM-bearing molecules has developed exponentially during the last three years, generating new concepts with important consequences in basic research and with exciting potential clinical applications. The present volume contains 15 reviews written by authors who all made significant contributions to the identification of...

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the discovery of Natural Killer (NK) cells, this volume focuses on the recent advances in our understanding of NK cell development and differentiation and their acquisition of functional properties, as well as the latest models for NK-cell analysis in mice and applications in clinical medicine. NK cells have travelled a circuitous path from their initial description as `spontaneous killers' (for some simply an experimental artifact) to being a bona fide subset of innate lymphoid cells with a complementary mode of action in immune defense and an ...