Recent advances in the understanding of basic mechanisms of autoimmune disease have led to the development of reagents that can potentially interfere with the disease process and limit disease progression. Although immune mediated therapeutics have already been proven effective for selected autoimmune conditions there are recent developments in clinical immunology that will lead to new approaches for the treatment of autoimmune disease. The implementation of these novel agents into treating human disease is expanding. It is essential that clinical and basic scientists become familiar with these novel approaches for the treatment of these refractory conditions. This meeting will focus on the mechanism and utilization of these therapeutics for the treatment and management of several autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, systemic lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. The primary emphasis for the sessions will be to provide the audience with information to better appreciate the state of the art and its translation to bedside medicine. To this end, the prime target audience for this meeting will be clinical physicians, translational research scientists, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students interested in gathering more knowledge of the current investigational activities in the field. This meeting represents an important new direction for the Keystone Symposia. It is responsive to the recently formulated """"""""NIH Roadmap"""""""" that has targeted translational medicine as a key roadway of this map. The historic association of the Keystone Symposia with frontiers in immunology will allow us to bring in both basic and clinical scientists to this new forum.
