Description
Lymphocytes mediate the adaptive immune responses to antigens derived from infectious agents, transformed cells, transplanted organs and, in the setting of autoimmunity, ones own cells. The study of lymphocyte activation and gene expression is central to understanding the complex biology of these cells and offers hope for regulating these cells in different clinical settings. Much has been learned in the past several decades in this field. Receptors, enzymes and adapter molecules have been identified, signaling cascades and networks have been defined, and the complex regulation of gene expression has been explored. Nonetheless many basic questions remain to be elucidated. Among several contentious areas of research that will be presented by experts at this meeting are the actual means by which antigen receptors initiate the activation process, how activation induces changes in signaling pathways, intracellular organelles and the cytoskeleton, and how changes in chromatin and transcriptional factors determine gene expression.
