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Book Neuro immune interaction in CNS injury and disease

Download or read book Neuro immune interaction in CNS injury and disease written by Bo Li and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-07-24 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Neuroimmune Interface in Health and Diseases

Download or read book Neuroimmune Interface in Health and Diseases written by Ihssane Zouikr and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2017-12-06 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is now well appreciated that the immune system, in addition to its traditional role in defending the organism against pathogens, communicate in a well-organized fashion with the brain to maintain homeostasis and regulate a set of neural functions. Perturbation in this brain-immune interactions due to inflammatory responses may lead to psychiatric and neurological disorders. Microglia are one of the essential cells involved in the brain-immune interactions. Microglial cells are now not simply regarded as resident tissue macrophages in the brain. These cells are derived from myeloid progenitor cells in the yolk sac in early gestation, travel to the brain parenchyma and interact actively with neurons during the critical period of neurogenesis. Microglia provide a trophic support to developing neurons and take part in the neural wiring through the activity-dependent synapse elimination via direct neuron-microglia interactions. Altered microglial functions including changes in the gene expression due to early life inflammatory events or psychological and environmental stressors can be causally related to neurodevelopmental diseases and mental health disorders. This type of alterations in the neural functions can occur in the absence of infiltration of inflammatory cells in the brain parenchyma or leptomeninges. In this sense, the pathogenetic state underlying a significant part of psychiatric and neurological diseases may be similar to “para-inflammation”, an intermediate state between homeostatic and classical inflammatory states as defined by Ruslan Medzhitov (Nature 454:428-35, 2008). Therefore, it is important to study how systemic inflammation affects brain health and how local peripheral inflammation induces changes in the brain microenvironment. Chronic pain is also induced by disturbance in otherwise well-organized multisystem interplay comprising of reciprocal neural, endocrine and immune interactions. Especially, early-life insults including exposure to immune challenges can alter the neuroanatomical components of nociception, which induces altered pain response later in life. Recently the discrete roles of microglia and blood monocyte-derived macrophages are being defined. The distinction may be further highlighted by disorders in which the brain parenchymal tissue is damaged. Therefore, studies investigating the dynamics of immune cells in traumatic brain injury and neurotropic viral infections including human immunodeficiency virus, etc. as well as neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are promising to clarify the interplay between the central nervous and immune systems. The understanding of the histological architecture providing the infrastructure of such neuro-immune interplay is also essential. This Frontiers research topic brings together fourteen articles and aims to create a platform for researchers in the field of psychoneuroimmunology to share the recent theories, hypotheses and future perspectives regarding open questions on the mechanisms of cell-cell interactions with chemical mediators among the nervous, immune and endocrine systems. We hope that this platform would reveal the relevance of the studies on multisystem interactions to enhance the understanding of the mechanisms underlying a wide variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Book Brain immune interactions in health and disease

Download or read book Brain immune interactions in health and disease written by Adam Denes and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2015-06-12 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brain-immune interactions are essential to maintain health and their dysfunction contributes to diverse human diseases. Recent data show that haematopoietic processes and immune organs are under central autonomic control. Deficient regulation of inflammatory events contributes to brain diseases, whereas acute or chronic brain injury is linked with the development of systemic inflammatory conditions or immunosuppression. At present, common disorders with high socio-economic burden such as cancer, cardiovascular-, neuroinflammatory- and neurodegenerative diseases, asthma, allergies, autism, psychiatric conditions and sepsis are believed to be influenced, at least in part, by the dysfunction of brain-immune communication. Since the median age of the world's population is increasing rapidly, it is expected that the burden of common non-communicable diseases will further increase, which represents a huge challenge to the health care systems worldwide. Thus, there is an increasing demand to understand and treat complex diseases, many of which are age-related, and this is not possible unless the fine-tuned communication between large systems -such as the nervous and the immune system- is comprehensively understood. Although it is impossible to cover all areas of relevant research in this field, papers in this eBook give some insight to a few important aspects of brain-immune interactions and their contribution to disease. We hope that this collection could stimulate further relevant research and facilitate discussions to support the understanding of the highly complex interactions between the immune system and the brain in health and disease.

Book Neuro Immune Connections to Enable Repair in CNS Disorders

Download or read book Neuro Immune Connections to Enable Repair in CNS Disorders written by Tim Vanmierlo and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2020-10-28 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact.

Book Neuro Immune Interactions in the Adult Central Nervous System

Download or read book Neuro Immune Interactions in the Adult Central Nervous System written by Oscar González-Pérez and published by Nova Science Publishers. This book was released on 2014-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasing evidence indicates that inflammatory cells and immunological cytokines can enter into the brain and modulate a number of biological and cognitive functions. Under physiological conditions, only a few immune cells, such as: macrophages, lymphocytes and dendritic cells can cross the blood-brain barrier and gain access to neural tissue. For many years, these findings supported the notion that the brain was an immunologically privileged organ. To date, increasing evidence strongly challenges this conjecture. In fact, neuroinflammation triggers a significant infiltration of immune cells into the cerebral parenchyma. The infiltration of inflammatory cells is accompanied by the release of a number of cytokines that target neurons, astrocytes and microglia. This interaction between the immune system and the central nervous system modulates many cerebral functions, such as: neural remodelling, synaptic plasticity, neurotransmitter releasing, stress-associated response, cognitive and mental disease progression, and others. The book summarises the latest discoveries, from basic to clinical science, regarding the interactions between the immunological mediators and the neural tissue under physiological and pathological conditions. In this book, it is discussed the influence of immune cells and cytokines in neural-regulated systems. Herein, the readers can find comprehensive descriptions in diverse fields, such as: lipids and obesity, neuronal activity, neurotransmission, stress pathogenesis, rheumatologic diseases, spinal cord injuries, regulation of neural stem cells, neural control of reproduction, and others. To ensure that most of readers obtain clear and complete information, all chapters have been written by prominent experts in their respective fields, who explain these topics with a very accessible language. In summary, this book represents a highly-updated compendium about the interactions between the central nervous system and the immune system that could be very useful for undergraduate students, postgraduate students, academic educators or trainers, basic science researchers and clinical physicians.

Book Neuro Immune Interactions in Neurologic and Psychiatric Disorders

Download or read book Neuro Immune Interactions in Neurologic and Psychiatric Disorders written by P. Patterson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea that the brain is an "immune-privileged site" has perhaps served to slow our realization that the intact brain can generate its own inflammatory reactions. These responses can be to peripheral infection, or they can arise from local, internal causes, for instance as a response to stress or to the se vere changes in neuronal activity in seizure or the loss of oxygen in stroke. We are also becoming increasingly aware of the contribution of local inflam matory reactions to certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's In fact, evidence is accumulating that inflammatory processes disease (AD). contribute to the progression of AD, suggesting the possibility of using cur rently available or novel anti-inflammatory agents to interfere with this terri ble disease. Correlations are also being made between inflammatory signs and mental illness, which is a new frontier of research. This book presents the current state of knowledge in a variety of areas relevant to neuro-immune interactions, with particular attention to AD.

Book Neuro Immune Interactions in Inflammation and Autoimmunity

Download or read book Neuro Immune Interactions in Inflammation and Autoimmunity written by Valentin A. Pavlov and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2018-07-24 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nervous system plays an important role in the regulation of immunity and inflammation. On the other hand unbalanced immune responses in inflammatory and autoimmune conditions may have a deleterious impact on neuronal integrity and brain function. Recent studies have characterized neural pathways communicating peripheral inflammatory signals to the CNS, and brain- and spinal cord-derived circuitries controlling various innate and adaptive immune responses and inflammation. A prototypical neural reflex circuit that regulates immunity and inflammation is the vagus nerve-based “inflammatory reflex”. Ongoing research has revealed cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these neural circuits and indicated new therapeutic approaches in inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. Pharmacological and bioelectronic modulation of neural circuitry has been successfully explored in preclinical settings of sepsis, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity-driven disorders, diabetes and other diseases. These studies paved the way to successful clinical trials with bioelectronic neuronal modulation in rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. Dysregulated release of cytokines and other inflammatory molecules may have a severe impact on brain function. Brain inflammation (neuroinflammation), imbalances in brain neuronal integrity and neurotransmitter systems, and cognitive impairment are characteristic features of post-operative conditions, sepsis, liver diseases, diabetes and other disorders characterized by immune and metabolic dysregulation. Derangements in cytokine release also play a pivotal role in depression. Characteristic brain reactive antibodies in autoimmune conditions, including systemic lupus erythematosus and neuromyelitis optica, significantly contribute to brain pathology and cognitive impairment. These studies, and the simultaneous characterization of neuro-protective cytokines, identified new therapeutic approaches for treating neurological complications in inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. This Frontiers Research Topic is a forum for publishing research findings and methodological and conceptual advances at the intersection of immunology and neuroscience. We hope that presenting new insight into bi-directional neuro-immune communication in inflammation and autoimmunity will foster further collaborations and facilitate the development of new efficient therapeutic strategies.

Book Neuroimmune Interface in Health and Diseases

Download or read book Neuroimmune Interface in Health and Diseases written by and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is now well appreciated that the immune system, in addition to its traditional role in defending the organism against pathogens, communicate in a well-organized fashion with the brain to maintain homeostasis and regulate a set of neural functions. Perturbation in this brain-immune interactions due to inflammatory responses may lead to psychiatric and neurological disorders. Microglia are one of the essential cells involved in the brain-immune interactions. Microglial cells are now not simply regarded as resident tissue macrophages in the brain. These cells are derived from myeloid progenitor cells in the yolk sac in early gestation, travel to the brain parenchyma and interact actively with neurons during the critical period of neurogenesis. Microglia provide a trophic support to developing neurons and take part in the neural wiring through the activity-dependent synapse elimination via direct neuron-microglia interactions. Altered microglial functions including changes in the gene expression due to early life inflammatory events or psychological and environmental stressors can be causally related to neurodevelopmental diseases and mental health disorders. This type of alterations in the neural functions can occur in the absence of infiltration of inflammatory cells in the brain parenchyma or leptomeninges. In this sense, the pathogenetic state underlying a significant part of psychiatric and neurological diseases may be similar to "para-inflammation", an intermediate state between homeostatic and classical inflammatory states as defined by Ruslan Medzhitov (Nature 454:428-35, 2008). Therefore, it is important to study how systemic inflammation affects brain health and how local peripheral inflammation induces changes in the brain microenvironment. Chronic pain is also induced by disturbance in otherwise well-organized multisystem interplay comprising of reciprocal neural, endocrine and immune interactions. Especially, early-life insults including exposure to immune challenges can alter the neuroanatomical components of nociception, which induces altered pain response later in life. Recently the discrete roles of microglia and blood monocyte-derived macrophages are being defined. The distinction may be further highlighted by disorders in which the brain parenchymal tissue is damaged. Therefore, studies investigating the dynamics of immune cells in traumatic brain injury and neurotropic viral infections including human immunodeficiency virus, etc. as well as neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are promising to clarify the interplay between the central nervous and immune systems. The understanding of the histological architecture providing the infrastructure of such neuro-immune interplay is also essential. This Frontiers research topic brings together fourteen articles and aims to create a platform for researchers in the field of psychoneuroimmunology to share the recent theories, hypotheses and future perspectives regarding open questions on the mechanisms of cell-cell interactions with chemical mediators among the nervous, immune and endocrine systems. We hope that this platform would reveal the relevance of the studies on multisystem interactions to enhance the understanding of the mechanisms underlying a wide variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Book Therapeutic Relevance and Mechanisms of Neuro Immune Communication in Brain Injury

Download or read book Therapeutic Relevance and Mechanisms of Neuro Immune Communication in Brain Injury written by Zhang Pengyue and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-08-25 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The brain is a critical organ with neuro-immune communication. The nervous system and immune system evolved to provide regulation of physiological homeostasis and protect against threats. Neuro-immune communication is correlated with physiological functions of various tissues and organs, and the internal environment balance. In brain trauma, the neural network is destroyed and the neuro-immune communication process is impaired. However, the research on this process is insufficient and limited. A thorough clarification of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuro-immune communication in brain injury is an essential necessary endeavor in the search for new therapeutic targets for brain injury. This Research Topic is devoted to the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuro-immune communication in brain injury and on the meaningful exploration of how the nervous system regulates the immune system to promote neurofunctional recovery after brain injury.

Book Neural Immune Interactions in Brain Function and Alcohol Related Disorders

Download or read book Neural Immune Interactions in Brain Function and Alcohol Related Disorders written by Changhai Cui and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-11-14 with total page 587 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent studies have provided clear evidence on the role of neural-immune interactions in normal brain function and neuropathological conditions. Neuroimmune factors, which play an essential role in neuroinflammatory response, have been implicated in the regulation of neuronal function and plasticity. Thus, neural-immune interactions provide a new frame work for understanding the role of the neuroimmune system in normal brain function, neurodevelopment, and a variety of neurological disorders. These advances have a far reaching impact on many areas of neuroscience, including alcohol research. Studies using human alcoholic brains, gene knockout mice, and gene expression profiling have established a clear link between alcoholism and an altered neuroimmune profile. This book integrates emerging knowledge on neural-immune interactions with key discoveries in alcohol research and provides a comprehensive overview of neural-immune interactions in brain function and behavior associated with alcohol use disorders. While Neural–Immune Interaction in Brain Function and Alcohol Related Disorders focuses on neural-immune interactions in areas directly related to alcohol use disorders, it is not intended to be all inclusive. Several areas, including sleep disorders, pain, and cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathways, are not covered as independent chapters but briefly mentioned in the text. The close relevance of these topics to neural-immune interactions and alcohol use disorders warrants future discussion and more research efforts.

Book Neuroimmune Interactions in Pain

Download or read book Neuroimmune Interactions in Pain written by Ru-Rong Ji and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-05-05 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As lifespans increase, more people around the world find themselves victims of chronic pain. In spite of this, treatment options continue to be severely limited. Anti-inflammatory drugs can only do so much, while painkillers like opioids have led to crippling addictions and fatal overdoses. The subject of the book is the role of immune cells, including glial cells, and neuroimmune interactions in chronic pain. The book begins by examining the preclinical and clinical evidence supporting the involvement of non-neuronal cells in chronic pain. It discusses the interactions between non-neuronal cells and neurons in the regulation of chronic pain. It then presents the implications of these findings, including promising and emerging treatments such as specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs, such as resolvins and protectins), immune cell therapy, and complementary and alternative medicine, as well as neuromodulation and regenerative medicine, which may prove to be the turning point for hundreds of millions of patients world-wide who struggle to escape from the shadow of chronic pain. The book presents ground-breaking research that will alter current perspectives on chronic pain.

Book Brain Neurotrauma

    Book Details:
  • Author : Firas H. Kobeissy
  • Publisher : CRC Press
  • Release : 2015-02-25
  • ISBN : 1466565993
  • Pages : 718 pages

Download or read book Brain Neurotrauma written by Firas H. Kobeissy and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2015-02-25 with total page 718 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the contribution from more than one hundred CNS neurotrauma experts, this book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account on the latest developments in the area of neurotrauma including biomarker studies, experimental models, diagnostic methods, and neurotherapeutic intervention strategies in brain injury research. It discusses neurotrauma mechanisms, biomarker discovery, and neurocognitive and neurobehavioral deficits. Also included are medical interventions and recent neurotherapeutics used in the area of brain injury that have been translated to the area of rehabilitation research. In addition, a section is devoted to models of milder CNS injury, including sports injuries.

Book Mechanisms of Neuroinflammation and Inflammatory Neurodegeneration in Acute Brain Injury

Download or read book Mechanisms of Neuroinflammation and Inflammatory Neurodegeneration in Acute Brain Injury written by Arthur Liesz and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2015-11-13 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mechanisms of brain-immune interactions became a cutting-edge topic in systemic neurosciences over the past years. Acute lesions of the brain parenchyma, particularly, induce a profound and highly complex neuroinflammatory reaction with similar mechanistic properties between differing disease paradigms like ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Resident microglial cells sense tissue damage and initiate inflammation, activation of the endothelial brain-immune interface promotes recruitment of systemic immune cells to the brain and systemic humoral immune mediators (e.g. complements and cytokines) enter the brain through the damaged blood-brain barrier. These cellular and humoral constituents of the neuroinflammatory reaction to brain injury contribute substantially to secondary brain damage and neurodegeneration. Diverse inflammatory cascades such as pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion of invading leukocytes and direct cell-cell-contact cytotoxicity between lymphocytes and neurons have been demonstrated to mediate the inflammatory ‘collateral damage’ in models of acute brain injury. Besides mediating neuronal cell loss and degeneration, secondary inflammatory mechanisms also contribute to functional modulation of neurons and the impact of post-lesional neuroinflammation can even be detected on the behavioral level. The contribution of several specific immune cell subpopulations to the complex orchestration of secondary neuroinflammation has been revealed just recently. However, the differential vulnerability of specific neuronal cell types and the molecular mechanisms of inflammatory neurodegeneration are still elusive. Furthermore, we are only on the verge of characterizing the control of long-term recovery and neuronal plasticity after brain damage by inflammatory pathways. Yet, a more detailed but also comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted interaction of these two supersystems is of direct translational relevance. Immunotherapeutic strategies currently shift to the center of translational research in acute CNS lesion since all clinical trials investigating direct neuroprotective therapies failed. To advance our knowledge on brain-immune communications after brain damage an interdisciplinary approach covered by cellular neuroscience as well as neuroimmunology, brain imaging and behavioral sciences is crucial to thoroughly depict the intricate mechanisms.

Book Neuroinflammation and CNS Disorders

Download or read book Neuroinflammation and CNS Disorders written by Nicola Woodroofe and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last decade has seen an upsurge of information on the role of immune responses in neurodegenerative disorders. In many of these diseases it is still unclear whether the innate and adaptive responses are pathogenic or play a role in repair, and thus understanding their precise roles is key to controlling these diseases by designing immune-therapeutic approaches. The connection between many neurological diseases is the realisation that the immune and nervous systems are inextricable linked, and that perturbations in this delicate balance are involved in many disorders. This has opened up new avenues for therapeutic approaches to treatment of CNS inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders. Neuroinflammation and CNS Disorders brings together the very latest information on the interactions between the immune system and central nervous system. The first section of the book highlights the basic concepts in the field whilst the second section, the main body of the book, covers the role of the immune response in specific disorders of the central nervous system. Neuroinflammation and CNS Disorders will provide an invaluable guide for both researchers and clinicians working in this complex and dynamic field.

Book Mind over Matter   Regulation of Peripheral Inflammation by the CNS

Download or read book Mind over Matter Regulation of Peripheral Inflammation by the CNS written by Michael Schäfer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2003-10-24 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Several new developments in the field of neuroimmunology with focus on the brain-to-immune system communication have been the incentive for this PIR volume. It covers topics such as brain-immune interactions, the impact of stress on the immune response, pain and immunosuppression, the modulation of inflammation and pain by the sympathetic nervous system, consequences of nerve injury for the immune system, neuronal mechanisms of immune cell recruitment, and the modulation of the immune response by corticotropin-releasing hormone or adenosine. The authors are a unique group of scientists who are all interested in brain-to-immune interactions; however, each from a different perspective. The volume will serve both neurobiologists and immunologists to understand the influence of the central nervous system on peripheral inflammation. Many aspects of this book will also be stimulating for researchers in the pain field.

Book Beyond the borders  The gates and fences of Neuroimmune interaction

Download or read book Beyond the borders The gates and fences of Neuroimmune interaction written by Javier Velázquez-Moctezuma and published by Frontiers E-books. This book was released on 2014-10-10 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neuroimmunology is a rapidly growing emerging field at which two old sciences have converged to integrate two different types of responses into a single coherent response involving the coordinated action of both systems, neural and immune. During long time it was thought that both systems worked separately and in divergent pathways. The brain was considered an immunoprivileged site and the immune organs were deemed as independent of any neural influence and also of nervous innervation. Time has gone and has proven that the borders between both systems were merely artificial. Since the beginning of Neuroimmunology in the 1980s much work has been done to elucidate the gates and fences in neuro-immune interactions. Brain was shown to be under the continuous surveillance of the immune system, even under basal physiological conditions in the absence of any pathology. Likely, it was found a profuse nervous innervation of lymphoid organs and even of single immune cells. Gates for direct neural immune communication were found both centrally and peripherally. Centrally, the gates, but also the fences, were situated at the brain barriers, the blood-brain barrier and the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier, and at the circunventricular organs. Peripherally, the fences constituted the apparent diverse nature of molecules involved in neural and immune signaling; however, time proved that both system were capable of producing the same signaling molecules and also systematically responded to the molecules released by the other system. Therefore, the gates were open for direct neural-immune communication at the peripheral level. This Research Topic aimed to include original reports, reviews and technical reports regarding the description of the gates and fences in neural immune interactions. We intended to provide an extensive view of the mechanisms governing central and peripheral neural-immune interactions, and the role of the borders, the blood-neural barriers, in the regulation of the neural-immune communication.

Book Insect Immunology

    Book Details:
  • Author : Nancy E. Beckage
  • Publisher : Academic Press
  • Release : 2011-04-28
  • ISBN : 0080556337
  • Pages : 367 pages

Download or read book Insect Immunology written by Nancy E. Beckage and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2011-04-28 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work is the first book-length publication on the topic of insect immunology since 1991, complementing earlier works by offering a fresh perspective on current research. Interactions of host immune systems with both parasites and pathogens are presented in detail, as well as the genomics and proteomics, approaches which have been lacking in other publications. Beckage provides comprehensive coverage of topics important to medical researchers, including Drosophila as a model for studying cellular and humoral immune mechanisms, biochemical mediators of immunity, and insect blood cells and their functions. Encompasses the most important topics of insect immunology including mechanisms, genes, proteins, evolution and phylogeny Provides comprehensive coverage of topics important to medical researchers including Drosophila as a model for studying cellular and humoral immune mechanisms, biochemical mediators of immunity, and insect blood cells and their functions Most up-to-date information published with contributions from international leaders in the field