Leukocyte Trafficking: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms

Organizer(s): Eugene C. Butcher and Ulrich H. von Andrian

Sponsored by ICOS Corporation and The Director's Fund

Summary of Meeting:

The past several years have seen considerable progress in our understanding of inflammation-, tissue-, and microenvironment-selective leukocyte trafficking and its role in immune responses and inflammation. Many adhesion and chemoattractant receptors and ligands that regulate leukocyte migration have been defined, as well as lipid-based traffic modulators and enzymes and signaling molecules involved. Their combinatorial use establishes trafficking programs that correlate with and help define the functional specialization of leukocyte subsets. Recent studies have demonstrated how tissue-specific antigen-presentation in secondary lymphoid organs induces B and T cells to acquire specialized adhesion and chemoattractant receptors, and how these pathways subsequently target antigen-experienced lymphocytes and their effector cell progeny in vivo. New imaging techniques provide unprecedented glimpses of these migratory dynamics in situ. Clinical trials are testing the efficacy of pharmacologic modulation of leukocyte traffic in autoimmune diseases. This program will bring together experts in the physiology and molecular biology of leukocyte trafficking to discuss the latest developments in the field, and to develop strategies for applying these insights to understanding and manipulating immune responses in vivo.

Discounted Abstract Deadline: November 1 2004

Discounted Registration Deadline: January 3 2005

We gratefully acknowledge additional support for this conference from:

We gratefully acknowledge additional in-kind support for this conference from those foregoing speaker expense reimbursements:

Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research

We gratefully acknowledge the generous grant for this conference provided by:

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Grant No. 1R13-AI063841-01

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