This proposal requests support for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled The Biology of Cytokines, organized by Christopher A. Hunter, John J. O'Shea and Fiona M. Powrie, which will be held in Keystone, Colorado from February 5 - 10, 2012. In the last decade cytokine therapies have been included as the standard of care for the treatment of infectious disease and cancer, and cytokine antagonists have been deployed for the management of chronic inflammation. Many researchers in this field are interested in basic principles through which cytokines mediate communication with and between cells of the immune system. Others are interested in the contributions of cytokines and cytokine signaling to the development of, or protection from, a broad range of diseases including allergy, infectious diseases, cancer, atherosclerosis, and autoimmunity. With the recognition that many of these pathways impact broadly on multiple conditions, the goal of the Keystone Symposia meeting on The Biology of Cytokines is to promote interactions between scientists who study the molecular mechanisms of cytokine function, signal transduction, and gene expression, and scientists who study how cytokines work in vivo. We anticipate that this meeting will foster discussions aimed at translating this knowledge into novel therapies for human disease. Opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be significantly enhanced by the concurrent meeting on Th17 Cells in Health and Disease, which will share a keynote address and two plenary sessions with this meeting.
In the last decade cytokine therapies have been included as the standard of care for the treatment of infectious disease and cancer, and cytokine antagonists have been used for the management of chronic inflammation. The goal of the Keystone Symposia meeting on The Biology of Cytokines is to promote interactions between scientists performing cutting-edge basic research studies on the molecular mechanisms of cytokine function, scientists using in vivo models to understand the biology of cytokines, and researchers working to translate this knowledge into novel therapies for human disease.
