Current knowledge of receptor-ligand interactions, cell signaling, and transcriptional regulation derive from studies of type I interferon. The design of novel therapeutics is informed by the advances in investigation of type I interferon, with the potential for important impacts on patient management.
Immunology: What Is It Good For?
I was cleaning out an old storage closet in my parents’ house in Florida when I stumbled across some notes I took in medical school. As I leafed through pages and pages of notes filled with doodles and reminders, I found a statement that gave me pause: “Immunology—what is it good for?!” To be honest,…
Immunology Insights for the Rheumatologist
The ACR journal, Arthritis & Rheumatology has introduced a new educational series, with the complement system first in focus. “This isn’t simplified immunology for trainees,” says Dr. Bucala. “It’s for everyone.”
Rheumatology Board Certification: Exploring Change
The ACR has been engaged in a measured, inclusive process with rheumatologists to determine if rheumatology board certification should move from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) to the American Board of Allergy and Immunology (ABAI), which would become a new, combined board of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology. “As ACR leaders have traveled around…
Advances in Precision Immunology Require Precision Controls to Further Research
CHICAGO—During the 2017 annual Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) meeting, a session focused on precision immunology and its advances. Precision immunology describes the identification of host, immune system and tumor factors that can be used to select an immunotherapy approach. Thus, the first step in precision immunology is to identify soluble factors, immune cell…
Insights into Precision Immunology for Research, RA & Infection
Research in precision immunology is in its early stages. But new insights into cohorts, RA gene expression and infection presented at FOCUS 2017 may benefit future research and patient care…
University of Nebraska Division of Rheumatology and Immunology Makes Education, Clinical Research Top Priorities
When it was created in 1982, the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center comprised one-and-a-half rheumatologists: its founder, Lynell W. Klassen, MD, MACR, and Gerald Moore, MD, who later received formal training at the NIH and now serves as senior associate dean for academic affairs. Thirty-five years later, the…
How Tuberculosis Has Shaped Medicine and Society
Pathologists are legendary for blending their work product with the culinary arts. Through the years, their use of delectable foods as descriptors has created a clever way to indelibly link in the minds of clinicians the histopathologic observations of disease with an assortment of these tasty foods: There is the depiction of an apple green…
Rheumatology Case Report: Immune-Related Aortitis Associated with Ipilimumab
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) is a monoclonal antibody directed against cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4). It was the first drug to demonstrate a survival benefit in advanced melanoma and was approved by the FDA in 2011.1 By blocking the CTLA-4 receptor, ipilimumab enhances the immune response against tumors via cytotoxic T lymphocyte activation and proliferation.2 However, immunopotentiating…
Human Immune System Likened to Model of Military Efficiency
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Speaking at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in a session titled ARHP: Immunology Boot Camp I: Basis of Targeted Therapy, a rheumatologist and immunology expert gave a guided tour of the immune system, described what can go wrong with it and outlined what physicians can do when it does. Troy Torgerson, MD, PhD, associate…