9^th European Immunology Conference associated with Antibody Engineering Meeting June 14-16 2018 Rome, Italy

T cell: A type of white blood cell that is of key importance to the immune system and is at the core of adaptive immunity, the system that tailors the body's immune response to specific pathogens. The T cells are like soldiers who search out and destroy the targeted invaders. Immature T cells (termed T-stem cells) migrate to the thymus gland in the neck, where they mature and differentiate into various types of mature T cells and become active in the immune system in response to a hormone called thymosin and other factors. T-cells that are potentially activated against the body's own tissues are normally killed or changed ("down-regulated") during this maturational process. There are several different types of mature T cells. Not all of their functions are known. T cells can produce substances called cytokines such as the interleukins which further stimulate the immune response. T-cell activation is measured as a way to assess the health of patients with HIV/AIDS and less frequently in other disorders. T cell are also known as T lymphocytes. The "T" stands for "thymus" -- the organ in which these cells mature. As opposed to B cells which mature in the bone marrow. B cells, also known as B lymphocytes, are a type of white blood cell of the lymphocyte subtype. They function in the humoral immunity component of the adaptive immune system by secreting antibodies. Many B cells mature into what are called plasma cells that produce antibodies (proteins) necessary to fight off infections while other B cells mature into memory B cells. All of the plasma cells descended from a single B cell produce the same antibody which is directed against the antigen that stimulated it to mature. The same principle holds with memory B cells. Thus, all of the plasma cells and memory cells "remember" the stimulus that led to their formation. The maturation of B cells takes place in birds in an organ called the bursa of Fabric’s. B cells in mammals mature largely in the bone marrow. The B cell, or B lymphocyte, is thus an immunologically important cell. It is not thymus-dependent, has a short lifespan, and is responsible for the production of immunoglobulins. It expresses immunoglobulins on its surface.

The tumour is an important aspect of cancer biology that contributes to tumour initiation, tumour progression and responses to therapy. Cells and molecules of the immune system are a fundamental component of the tumour microenvironment. Importantly, therapeutic strategies can harness the immune system to specifically target tumour cells and this is particularly appealing owing to the possibility of inducing tumour-specific immunological memory, which might cause long-lasting regression and prevent relapse in cancer patients. The composition and characteristics of the tumour microenvironment vary widely and are important in determining the anti-tumour immune response. Immunotherapy is a new class of cancer treatment that works to harness the innate powers of the immune system to fight cancer. Because of the immune system's unique properties, these therapies may hold greater potential than current treatment approaches to fight cancer more powerfully, to offer longer-term protection against the disease, to come with fewer side effects, and to benefit more patients with more cancer

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins or one of its surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as foreign, destroy it, and "remember" it, so that the immune system can more easily recognize and destroy any of these microorganisms that it later encounters. There are two basic types of vaccines: live attenuated and inactivated. The characteristics of live and inactivated vaccines are different, and these characteristics determine how the vaccine is used. Live attenuated vaccines are produced by modifying a disease-producing (“wild”) virus or bacteria in a laboratory.

Infectious diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi; the diseases can be spread, directly or indirectly, from one person to another. Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases of animals that can cause disease when transmitted to humans. Some infectious diseases can be passed from person to person. Some are transmitted by bites from insects or animals. And others are acquired by ingesting contaminated food or water or being exposed to organisms in the environment.Signs and symptoms vary depending on the organism causing the infection, but often include fever and fatigue. Mild complaints may respond to rest and home remedies, while some life-threatening infections may require hospitalization.

Clinical Immunology has evolved over the past two decades from a predominant laboratory base to a combined clinical and laboratory specialty. The clinical work of Immunologists is largely out-patient based and involves primary immunodeficiency, allergy, autoimmune rheumatic disease and systemic vasculitis (jointly with Rheumatologists), joint pediatric clinics for children with immunodeficiency and allergy and immunoglobulin infusion clinics for patients with antibody deficiency. On the laboratory front, Consultant Immunologists are responsible for directing diagnostic immunology services and perform a wide range of duties including clinical liaison, interpretation and validation of results, quality assurance and assay development.

Neuroimmunology, a branch of immunology that deals especially with the interrelationships of the nervous system and immune responses and auto immune disorders. Its deals with particularly fundamental and applied euro biology, neurology, neuropathology, neurochemistry, Neuro virology, neuroendocrinology, neuromuscular research, neuropharmacology and psychology, which involve either immunologic methodology (e.g. immunocytochemistry) or fundamental immunology (e.g. antibody and lymphocyte assays).

Reproductive immunology refers to a field of medicine that studies interactions (or the absence of them) between the immune system and components related to the reproductive system, such as maternal immune tolerance towards the fetus, or immunological interactions across the blood-testis barrier. The immune system refers to all parts of the body that work to defend it against harmful enemies. In people with immunological fertility problems their body identifies part of reproductive function as an enemy and sends Natural Killer (NK) cells to attack. A healthy immune response would only identify an enemy correctly and attack only foreign invaders such as a virus, parasite, bacteria etc. The concept of reproductive immunology is not widely accepted by all physicians. Those patients who have had repeated miscarriages and multiple failed IVF's find themselves exploring it's possibilities as the reason. With an increased amount of success among treating any potential immunological factors, the idea of reproductive immunology can no longer be overlooked. The failure to conceive is often due to immunologic problems that can lead to very early rejection of the embryo, often before the pregnancy can be detected by even the most sensitive tests. Women can often produce perfectly healthy embryos that are lost through repeated "mini miscarriages." This most commonly occurs in women who have conditions such as endometriosis, an under-active thyroid gland or in cases of so called "unexplained infertility." It has been estimated that an immune factor may be involved in up to 20% of couples with otherwise unexplained infertility. These are all conditions where abnormalities of the woman’s immune system may play an important role.

Microbial Immunology expects studies examining responses to any microbial agent, including viruses, bacteria and parasites. The Microbiology, Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology concentrate on the study of host-pathogen interactions at the molecular and cellular levels

Most parasites, by the nature of their continuous contact with the immune system, generate a prolific immune response. Unfortunately, much of this response is not protective, and some is harmful. Protective immunity in some infections is due to a combination of humoral and cellular immunity; in this circumstance parasites are coated with antibody which makes them susceptible to direct cytotoxicity by macrophages, eosinophil’s, and neutrophils. Antibody alone is protective against some other infections. Nonspecific and genetic factors are clearly important but are still undefined participants in the host response. The immune response may be pathogenic by inducing hypersensitivity, immunologically mediated fibrosis, or circulating immune complexes. Additionally, Parasites have evolved unique ways of protecting themselves from the immune system, including altering their antigenic coat and inducing immunosuppression. Attempts to isolate "host-protective" antigens in parasitic infections may lead to effective vaccine development

Although medications available for allergy are usually very effective, they do not cure people of allergies. Allergen immunotherapy is the closest thing we have for a "cure" for allergy, reducing the severity of symptoms and the need for medication for many allergy sufferers. Allergen immunotherapy involves the regular administration of gradually increasing doses of allergen extracts over a period of years. Immunotherapy can be given to patients as an injection or as drops or tablets under the tongue (sublingual).Allergen immunotherapy changes the way the immune system reacts to allergens, by switching off allergy. The end result is that you become immune to the allergens, so that you can tolerate them with fewer or no symptoms. Allergen immunotherapy is not, however, a quick fix form of treatment. Those agreeing to allergen immunotherapy need to be committed to 3-5 years of treatment for it to work, and to cooperate with your doctor to minimize the frequency of side effects. Allergen immunotherapy is usually recommended for the treatment of potentially life threatening allergic reactions to stinging insects. Published data on allergen immunotherapy injections shows that venom immunotherapy can reduce the risk of a severe reaction in adults from around 60 % per sting, down to less than 10%. In Australia and New Zealand, venom immunotherapy is currently available for bee and wasp allergy. Jack Jumper Ant immunotherapy is available in Tasmania for Tasmanian residents. Allergen immunotherapy is often recommended for treatment of allergic rhinitis

Immunology is the branch of biomedical sciences concerned with all aspects of the immune system in all multicellular organisms. Immunology deals with physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and disease as well as malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders like allergies, hypersensitivities, immune deficiency, transplant rejection and autoimmune disorders.

Antigen processing is an immunological process that prepares antigens for presentation to special cells of the immune system called T lymphocytes. It is considered to be a stage of antigen presentation pathways. The process by which antigen-presenting cells digest proteins from inside or outside the cell and display the resulting antigenic peptide fragments on cell surface MHC molecules for recognition by T cells is central to the body's ability to detect signs of infection or abnormal cell growth. As such, understanding the processes and mechanisms of antigen processing and presentation provides us with crucial insights necessary for the design of vaccines and therapeutic strategies to bolster T-cell responses.

The effective immune response is an outcome of the reaction between antigen and a network of immunologically competent cells. The immune response is controlled by various mechanisms which restore the immune system to a resting state when response to a given antigen is no longer required. Effective immune responses are usually resulted from the interactions between pathogens and a network of immunologic elements.

The immune system is the collection of cells, tissues and molecules that protects the body from numerous pathogenic microbes and toxins in our environment. This defense against microbes has been divided into two general types of reactions: reactions of innate immunity and reactions of adaptive immunity. Thus, innate and adaptive immunity can be thought of as two equally important aspects of the immune system. As you will see, each aspect differs with respect to how quickly it responds and for how long it responds to pathogens, its central effector cell types and its specificity for different classes of microbes. As its name suggests, the innate immune system consists of cells and proteins that are always present and ready to mobilize and fight microbes at the site of infection. It thus provides an immediate response to foreign invader.The main components of the innate immune system are 1) physical epithelial barriers, 2) phagocytic leukocytes, 3) dendritic cells, 4) a special type of lymphocyte called a natural killer (NK) cell, and 5) circulating plasma proteins. Innate immune responses are not specific to a particular pathogen in the way that the adaptive immune responses are. They depend on a group of proteins and phagocytic cells that recognize conserved features of pathogens and become quickly activated to help destroy invaders.

Transplantation can be a influential method for the treatment of end-stage organ failure. Transplantation is the process of transferring cells, tissues, or organs from one site to another. The dysfunction of an organ system can be reformed with transplantation of an organ from a donor. However, the immune system remains the most dreadful barrier to transplantation as a routine medical treatment. The immune system has developed complex and effective mechanisms to conflict foreign agents. These mechanisms are also involved in the dismissal of transplanted organs, which are perceived as foreign by the recipient's immune system

Viruses are strongly immunogenic and produce 2 types of immune responses; humoral and cellular. T and B cells do not generally recognize the same epitopes present on the same virus. B cells see the free unaltered proteins in their native 3-D conformation whereas T cells usually see the Ag in a denatured form in conjunction with MHC molecules. The characteristics of the immune reaction to the same virus may differ in different individuals depending on their genetic constitutions.

Costimulatory molecules can be categorized based either on their functional attributes or on their structure. The costimulatory molecules discussed in this review will be divided into (1) positive costimulatory pathways: promoting T cell activation, survival and/or differentiation; (2) negative costimulatory pathways:antagonizing TCR signalling and suppressing T cell activation; (3) as third group we will discuss the members of the TIM family, a rather “new” family of cell surface molecules involved in the regulation of T cell differentiation and Treg function. Costimulatory pathways have a critical role in the regulation of alloreactivity.  A complex network of positive and negative pathways regulates T cell responses.  Blocking costimulation improves allograft survival in rodents and non-human primates. The costimulation blocker belatacept is being developed as immunosuppressive drug in renal transplantation.

Cell adhesion, it is the process by which cells interact and attach to a surface, substrate or another cell. Cell adhesion is essential for cell migration and tissue integrity. This process not only promotes the proper functioning of individual cells, but it also allows communication and coordination among groups of cells — including the cells that make up organized communities called tissues. Cell adhesion occurs from the action of Trans membrane glycoproteins called cell adhesion molecules,examples of this adhesion include integrins, syndecans, selectins and cadherins.

Pathology is a branch of medical science primarily concerning the examination of organs, tissues, and bodily fluids in order to make a diagnosis of disease. Immunopathology is a branch of biomedical science concerned with immune responses to disease, with immunodeficiency diseases, and with diseases caused by immune mechanisms.  It includes the study of the pathology of an organism, organ system, or disease with respect to the immune system, immunity, and immune responses. The immune pathological reaction is caused by release of toxins and the apoptosis of infected cell.