The purpose of this application is to request partial support for The Fourth International Congress on PAF and Related Lipid Mediators that will occur from September 22-26, 1992 at Snowbird, Utah. This Congress will focus on the recent advances in our understanding of the molecular biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, physiology, and clinical actions of this interesting phospholipid mediator. The program will appeal to a diverse audience including basic scientists and clinicians. The Congress operates as a free standing entity without the support of a society. Its organization is unusual in that it focuses on a molecule, and related lipids, and therefore draws investigators from many different disciplines, but with a common interest in the novel features of lipid. For example, it was the first phospholipid to exert its effects via binding to a receptor. A cDNA for the receptor recently has been cloned. Additionally, its routes of synthesis and degradation are interesting from the perspective of lipid biochemists since the enzymes have dramatic specificity - a trait that is unusual in lipid enzymology. There have been recent major advances in our understanding of these enzymes including isolation of cDNA's for a phospholipase A2 that probably initiates this process. Additionally, it has been shown that many factors influence the synthesis of PAF including dietary fatty acids and probable covalent modification of both enzymes in a synthetic pathway. The field has reached the point that the large number of antagonists of the PAF receptor have now been tested in various animal models of disease and even, in some cases, clinical trials. These studies, both animal and human, will be of interest to investigators in inflammation (e.g. arthritis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, and reperfusion injury), reproductive biology (since PAF has been shown to be involved in implantation on the one hand and initiation of labor on the other),and coagulation and thrombosis. Many of the speakers are internationally known for their research. However, we also have taken care to include younger investigators, workers from other countries, and women and minorities. The Congress will have plenary sessions, in which virtually all of the speakers will be invited although some slots have not yet been filled to leave space for new developments between now and the Congress. In the afternoons there will be concurrent sessions and many of these will be initiated by an invited speaker. However, the others will filled from submitted abstracts that will be judged by the Organizing Committee.
