The morning of the second day of the conference saw another wonderful series of master lectures, Enzalutamide cell line this time delivered by Rafi Ahmed (USA) and Stefan Kaufmann (Germany). Rafi Ahmed described the human B-cell response to influenza virus in people infected with the 2009 H1N1

pandemic strain and discussed the novel vaccination approaches for this virus which has been extensively discussed during the past decade. Stefan Kaufmann focused his lecture on host-pathogen interactions in tuberculosis. He described the novel vaccination strategies based on the improved rBCG strain which expresses listeriolysin but is devoid of urease. He showed that this candidate vaccine induces better protection and has proven to be safer than the wild type parental BCG. This vaccine has already successfully entered a phase II clinical trial. He highlighted the importance of biomarkers that could help to (i) discriminate

latently infected individuals and patients with active TB, (ii) monitor clinical vaccine and drug trial, (iii) define mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, resistance and susceptibility and (iv) finally predict the risk of disease development. The close of the second day saw two more master lectures. One was given by Narinder Mehra (India) who highlighted the clinical relevance of antibodies in transplantation, the range of technologies for their detection and the importance of defining donor-specific and anti-HLA antibodies both in pre- as well as post-transplant stages. Narinder Mehra Cobimetinib datasheet particularly stressed the potential

role of antibodies to AZD4547 solubility dmso MICA, the molecule expressed primarily on endothelial cells, in transplantation. The other master lecture was given by Shigeo Koyasu (Japan) who presented studies on the type 2 innate immune response as predicted by natural helper (NH) cells. He described the role of these cells in lymphoid clusters in adipose tissues, termed fat associated lymphoid clusters (FACCs). The NH cells produce Th2 cytokines constitutively and support self renewal of B1 cells and IgA production by B cells. The concluding day of the Congress started with the master lectures by GP Talwar and Vijay Kuchroo. GP Talwar gave an overview of immunological approaches for the control of fertility through vaccination against human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which prevents unwanted pregnancy without impairment of ovulation and derangement of menstrual regularity. Recent studies by the Talwar group suggest that this vaccine is likely to have therapeutic applications in the treatment of hormone dependant cancers. Vijay Kuchroo (USA) highlighted T-cell subsets, particularly the IL-17-producing Th17 cells and their reciprocal relationship for the generation and induction of autoimmunity and FoxP3 Treg cells that inhibit autoimmune tissue injury.

As to the functional role these cells play in human pregnancy, more is needed to be done. It has recently been discovered that Treg cells of Foxp3 lineage display an unexpected plasticity and find more have a bifunctional potential depending on the physiological settings. Under most circumstances, Foxp3+ Treg cells suppress unwanted and unappropriate immune responses, but under other circumstances, Treg cells can transform to rapidly responsive helper cells capable to help initiate T-cell responses instead of suppressing them (reviewed by Mellor and Munn49). How the Foxp3+

Treg cell subsets in human pregnancy function under physiological and pathological conditions remains to be elucidated, and indeed, the phenotypic characterization of the three decidual Foxp3+ Treg cells described in this report, CD4+ CD25− Foxp3+,

CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+, and CD4+ CD25++ Foxp3+, is a good start. Two main points are made in this study; first that the enrichment of Foxp3+ Treg cells in early human pregnancy is a local event, taking place in the pregnant uterine mucosa, the decidua, and comprising three main subsets, CD4+ CD25− Foxp3+, CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+, and CD4+ CD25++ Foxp3+. The second is that cells, Daporinad cell line expressing Foxp3 gene at comparable levels to ‘classical’ Treg cells, are highly enriched in the CD4+ CD25− decidual T lymphocyte pool, suggesting that besides ‘classical’ Treg cells, there might be an additional reservoir of committed

‘naïve’ regulatory cells in decidua ready to regain CD25 expression and suppressive function upon activation/homeostatic expansion.34,40 Understanding the nature of the CD4+ CD25− Foxp3+ decidual cells and their role in decidua might hold the key to understanding the nature and function of the ‘classical’ Treg cells in Staurosporine research buy human pregnancy. Thus, further and deeper studies of the ‘cryptic’ CD4+ CD25− Foxp3+ cells34 in human decidua are needed before a definite opinion about their nature and role in pregnancy can be established. In addition, the report presented here illustrates that studies of the immune cells in peripheral blood during pregnancy should be handled and interpreted with care, because they might not reflect the immune system in decidua, and highlights the importance of immune-cell studies at the fetal–maternal interface for comprehension of the maternal immune regulation during pregnancy. We are very grateful to Dr. Vladimir Baranov for the useful discussions and valuable suggestions during the performance of this study, and for critically reading the manuscript. The donors of decidual and peripheral blood samples, the colleagues, and the operation staff at Norrland’s University Hospital are gratefully acknowledged.