Granulomatous Infections and Inflammations: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms

Abstract

Granulomatous conditions occur in a wide array of diseases with microbial, fungal, protozoan, viral, helminthic, or metallic etiologic agents. As a result, the published literature has been widely dispersed. Now this new book presents in one volume an up-to-date summary of knowledge on experimental and clinical granulomatoses. Three review chapters cover the major aspects of the granulomatous response, providing the basis for the understanding of the overall granulomatous immune response and its resolution. Subsequent chapters provide an in-depth discussion of the mechanistic basis of inflammation in a number of representative granulomatous diseases. These systems illustrate different cellular responses and immune mechanisms within the framework of the general granulomatous response. The volume also covers experimental treatments of mice by cell transfer between donor and recipient, infection of inflammatory/regulatory cytokines or cytokine-neutralizing antibodies, and use of mice genetically deficient in cytokine/chemokine production or cytokine/chemokine receptor expression.