NCMLS organises immunology congress at Nijmegen

How do cells in our immune system recognise dangerous invaders and hazardous cells, such as cancer cells? Answers to this and similar questions are evolving rapidly. A large contributor worldwide to the field of immunology is the NCMLS, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. The NCMLS is organising an important scientific congress on this very topic, for which the absolute world top immunology experts are coming to Nijmegen.

Cells of our immune system recognise disease-causing bacteria, viruses and cancer cells and render them harmless; for other types of cells in the body this is not possible. In this way, the immune system ensures that harmful invaders are removed, before they can make us ill. How does this particular system work? Until recently scientists had little idea, but now the secrets of the pattern recognition mechanisms of the immune system are being rapidly unraveled.

Barcode

`You must imagine, that invaders, such as harmful bacteria and viruses, carry a unique barcode,' says clinician prof.dr. Mihai Netea, one of the organisers of the Nijmegen congress `Pattern Recognition Receptor: seeing the enemy'. `The cells of our immune system have a specialised reader, located on the outside of the cell, that recognises a specific barcode. Other cells present in the body do not have such a specialised barcode reader. If one of the barcode readers in the immune system has an impaired function or is absent, the associated barcode is not recognised and the pathogen can multiply causing illness in the individual concerned.'

In recent years, scientists worldwide have deciphered many reader-barcode combinations and discovered several missing or broken readers. Thus, they can begin to explain a number of infectious and auto-immune diseases. Frequently, an error in the gene is responsible. Very recently, researchers in Nijmegen under the guidance of prof.dr. Mihai Netea, discovered a badly functioning reader that causes reoccurring vaginal fungal infections.

Knowledge about the readers and barcodes offers a bright future for targeted therapies, both preventive (improving vaccines) and curative (improving cancer treatment). Medical science is, for example, working hard to develop molecules which further stimulate the detection receptors (the readers of the barcode) to produce antibodies. By combining these molecules with a vaccine, the effectiveness of the vaccine can be improved.

Top speakers

The NCMLS have invited top researchers in this field to present their latest research ideas and findings at this year's New Frontiers congress. The congress organisors are especially delighted that keynote  speaker prof.dr Shizuo Akira from the University of Osaka will come to Nijmegen. He has made a significant and sizeable contribution to the study of detection sensors. Prof.dr. Shizuo Akira, as well as the second keynote speaker, prof.dr. Jules Hoffmann from Strasbourg, received the 2004 Koch prize for their contributions to medical science. The Koch prize is regarded by some as a stepping-stone to the Nobel prize. The third keynote speaker, prof.dr. Michael Karin from the University of California, San Diego, was ranked first worldwide by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) in a listing of the most-cited molecular biology and genetic research papers published in prestigious journals.

More than four hundred participants have registered for the congress. Participants include other prominent scientists, as well as  editors of top scientific journals.