NK and NKT Cell Biology: Specificity and Redundancy of Innate Responses (A4) 2011

Our knowledge base in innate immunity has exploded over the past decade, and our understanding of innate immune mechanisms will soon impact in the clinics. Nevertheless, we still have much to learn about how NK cells and NKT cells shape innate and adaptive immune responses. This meeting will address issues related to the biological roles of these two specialized innate lymphocyte populations by bringing together NK and NKT cell experts to discuss their latest cutting-edge results on topics including NK/NKT development, NK/NKT cell ligand recognition, NK/NKT activation and crosstalk , and roles for NK/NKT cells as both effectors and regulators of the immune response in inflammatory disease, infection and cancer. This confrontation between NK cell and NKT cell biologists should promote a lively forum for discussion and debate about the specificity and redundancy of NK/NKT cell responses, and can hopefully lead to new collaborations to help advance our understanding of the biological roles of these important innate mediators.