Immune-Mediated Diseases II Congress: summary

The remarkable progress in basic immunological research during the past 50 years can account for the emerging of medical or clinical immunology as a novel discipline, which may be defined as the application of basic immunology rules to the diagnosis, treatment, and prophylactics of patients with diseases in which immunological pathways may play an important etiological and/or pathogenetic role. The immune system has a central role not only in fighting infections, but also in many other diseases and disorders including cancer, AIDS, and organ transplantation. In addition, the immune system imbalance is responsible for primary and secondary immunodeficiencies, hypersensitive illnesses, such as asthma, dermatitis, and other allergies, as well as systemic and organ-specific autoimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. Immune-mediated diseases such as autoimmune diseases and allergic diseases are important health problems in many countries. For instance, autoimmune diseases afflict up to 8% of the United States population; allergic diseases represent the sixth leading cause of chronic illness and disability in the United States, and the leading cause among children. Thus, immune-mediated diseases represent an enormous medical, social, and economical problem and require serious and instant attention from clinicians, scientists, pharmacists, and biotech professionals. The goal of the Second International Immune-Mediated Diseases (IMD) Congress was to advance medical and biomedical immunological sciences and clinical practice via the organization of multiple sessions and training courses as well as providing an environment for stimulating scientific discussions, the exchange of ideas, and consideration of novel clinical diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Selected contributions from the participants of this Congress who are eager to share some of the academic and clinical enthusiasm are presented in this issue (and the subsequent issue) of the Journal of Immunotoxicology.