FASEB SUMMER CONFERENCE ON NEUROIMMUNOLOGY

Federation Of Amer Soc For Exper Biology, Bethesda MD

Investigators

Abstract

This application is a request for support for the sixth Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Summer Research Conference on Neuroimmunology to be held at Cooper Mountain, Colorado, June 18-23, 2000. Scientists from a variety of disciplines have become increasingly interested in the dialogue between the immune system and the nervous system. Immune activity in the central nervous system (CNS) has until very recently been associated with pathological conditions. Over the past several years, however, accumulating evidence suggests that immune-associated cells and other CNS factors may play a beneficial role and be involved in normal physiological conditions. In addition, the CNS and the immune system appear to use similar or even identical factors for their inter- and intra- communications; e.g., cytokines, chemokines and neurotrophic factors are produced by and responded to similarly by both systems. Rapid advances in the field make it necessary to reassess a number of basic aspects of CNS-immune interactions, including anatomical, physiological and functional aspects of the CNS in relation to immune activity. In the past, interest in immune involvement in brain diseases was restricted to autoimmune diseases. It is now evident that almost any nerve-related disease involves an immune-associated component as part of its pathogenesis. Examples include Alzheimer's Disease, Stroke, AIDS Dementia Complex and Parkinson's disease. This alters our view of therapeutic approaches currently accepted in the pharmaceutical industry for treatment of CNS degenerative diseases as well as treatment of CNS trauma. At the FASEB meeting in the year 2000, we plan to expand upon basic issues such as the dialog between the CNS and the immune system and how it affects their activities. Questions to be raised will concern the role of autoimmunity in CNS repair, as well as inflammation and trauma, and how these responses can be manipulated at the cellular and functional levels. Attention will be paid to the role of cytokines/chemokines in the CNS and neurotrophic factors in the immune system, cross-control and cross-talk. Issues such as cell trafficking to the CNS, mechanisms triggering the immune response in the CNS, and the distinction between self- and non- self will also be discussed. No other platform has yet provided the opportunity for scientific discussion of the field of basic neuroimmunology where emphasis has been placed upon the physiological roles of the immune system in relation to the CNS, as well as to the beneficial rather than detrimental aspects of the immune response in the CNS.