oa Editorial

This year we continue the high quality articles both on basic immunology and at the interface between basic and clinical immunology and immunopathology. This first issue of the year provides a great starting point for showing the range of topics that serve our goals. In particular, this issue contains articles covering basic immune regulation, host-pathogen relationships, especially in viral infection, and finally, applications of our knowledge of the immune system to engineer practical immunotherapies. Basic immune regulation is addressed in the first article, from Veit et al., which brings us up to date on the role of HLA-G in immunological tolerance of the fetal allograft, and its broader immunoregulatory role in settings from transplantation to inflammatory disease. The next article also fills in details on immune regulation, this time with regard to the cytokine IL-17, and its role in the function of the interesting T helper subset known as Th17 cells. Detailed studies on host-pathogen relationships have turned to yield critically important details about immune regulation that cannot be brought out by many basic immunology studies; viruses and other pathogens have developed numerous clever mechanisms for evading or shaping immune responses, and in many cases they can be unique to each infectious organism and are quite often unique to each species host as well. Three articles help bring out these details, in discussion of various viral infections. Klein and Claesson discuss the particular role of Leukotriene B4 on the biology of Epstein Barr Virus. Inflammatory mediators such as Leukotriene B4 may contribute negatively to the infectious immunopathology of this infection despite its important role in other inflammatory responses. A close analysis of the role of T cell responses in Epstein Barr virus and Cytomegalovirus is also provided by Scherrenburg and van Baarle. Suppression of viral infection depends on broad T cell reactivity and functionality, which may be a critical issue in the setting of immunodeficiency. Similarly, the development and maturity of the immune system is a critical factor in the ability of the host to respond to these viruses. Muller et al. provide us with a summary of the immune responses of the fetus and newborn in the face of Herpes Simplex Virus and Cytomegalovirus. In view of the broad diversity in pathogen mechanisms for subverting the immune system, investigators have sought engineering strategies to provide immunity that the patient cannot provide on his own. Tomita and Tsumoto describe advances in technologies to develop antigen-specific monoclonal antibodies, with approaches enabling much more precisely defined specificities. Antibody therapeutics should continue their dominance in the biotech industry with continuing advances in these technologies. Rajapaksa and Lo describe the development of polymer microparticles for use in vaccines, though rather than produce these simply as antigen depot carriers, these particles can also provide targeted delivery in settings such as needle-free mucosal (intranasal or oral) administration. Finally, this year we are thrilled to be launching the publication of special issues on various Hot Topics in immunology. These issues, assembled and edited by guest editors, have put together coordinated articles on focused topics along the lines of regular articles already being published in CIR. Each issue is a fascinating read, with enlightening articles on a selected topic of high interest to CIR readers.