Gene therapy teaches us about the immune system
In recent years there has been great progress in the field of gene therapy, with the treatment method gaining ground whilst at the same time providing us with an increasingly in-depth understanding of the development and functions of the immune system. A conference at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet will present the latest news in the field of immunology.
Journalists are welcome to the conference “Frontiers in immunology – from molecules to disease”.
Time and place: 12 - 14 June 2014, Nobel Forum, Nobels väg 1, Karolinska Institutet Campus Solna
One of the conference participants is Nobel Laureate David Baltimore of the California Institute of Technology, USA. His research has been of great importance to the understanding of retroviruses such as the HIV virus, and to knowledge about the molecular biology underlying an immune response. At the conference at Karolinska Institutet he will speak on the subject of blood stem cells and what is known as microRNA. MicroRNA are RNA molecules that do not encode proteins, but instead contribute to the regulation of genes.
David Baltimore also conducts research on gene therapy, an intensely active field to which a large part of the conference will be dedicated. Today bone marrow transplants are used in the treatment of cancer and congenital immune disorders, for example. This means that the patient's immune system is replaced by immune cells from a donor.
“We are skilled in conducting bone marrow transplants in Sweden, but unless a perfect match between donor and patient is found, the method has a high mortality rate. Since 2000, some institutions in the world have started to treat children with severe immune disorders with gene therapy instead, and the method shows incredible promise,” says Lisa Westerberg, researcher at Karolinska Institutet and one of the conference organisers.
In gene therapy the patient's own cells are taken out and genetically treated outside the body. For example, a gene that is missing can be added to the cells which are then reintroduced into the body. To date, about 30 patients have been treated with gene therapy at four centres around the world. All of these centres are represented among the speakers at the conference. This includes Alain Fischer from Necker Hospital, Paris, who is one of the pioneers of the method. The treatments have meant that research about the immune system has taken a giant leap forward. For example, the knowledge of the development of the immune system and how we defend ourselves against bacteria and viruses has grown. This builds a knowledge base that can be used in the research and treatment of several immune system-related disorders such as cancer, rheumatism and allergies.
Several different aspects of the basic research in immunology will come up during the course of the conference, and several of the lectures concern antibodies as a defence against disease. One of them is by Tasuku Honjo of Kyoto University, Japan, who has studied the production of antibodies in the B cells of the immune system. He has discovered a protein that is essential for the creation of immunological memory, i.e. the improvement of the immune system between infections.
In a lecture by Fred Alt, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, there will also be an opportunity to learn more about B cells and the molecular processes that give rise to the forms of cancer known as lymphoma and leukaemia.
The programme for the conference and additional information are available here: http://immunology2014.se/
If you have any questions, please contact:
Lisa Westerberg, researcher
Department of Microbiology, Tumour and Cell Biology
Tel +46 8 524 868 33 or +46 76 027 30 12
E-mail: Lisa.Westerberg@ki.se
Sabina Bossi, press officer
Tel +46 8 524 860 66 or +46 70 614 60 66
E-mail: sabina.bossi@ki.se
Karolinska Institutet is one of the world’s leading medical universities. It accounts for over 40 per cent of the medical academic research conducted in Sweden and offers the country’s broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. Since 1901 the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has selected the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.
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