Conference on Regulatory Myeloid Cells in Health and Diseases

简介（由申请人提供）：本次国际生物医学会议将于2009年3月12日至15日在佛罗里达州克利尔沃特喜来登沙钥匙酒店举行。本次会议的目的是促进在新兴的快速发展的研究领域的最新发现和思想的交流：调节性骨髓抑制细胞。近年来，人们对这些细胞在癌症、败血症、感染、创伤、自身免疫和其他疾病中的重要作用有了大量的了解。越来越多的证据指出，这些调节细胞的扩张可能代表了对所有形式炎症的共同反应。许多研究表明，这些细胞可能是调节性T细胞的髓样类似物，因为它们对各种刺激的反应具有高可塑性，并且具有抑制正在进行的免疫反应的高潜力。目前有几项临床试验以这些细胞为目标，目的是改善癌症的免疫反应。然而，这个领域以及“调节性髓细胞”这个术语都是高度争议的，许多问题仍未解决。现在似乎是一个绝佳的时机，将来自不同领域的科学家聚集在一起，在癌症和其他疾病的免疫学广泛背景下，讨论这些细胞的扩展、积累、分化、调节和功能的各个方面。整个领域迫切需要讨论已经描述的和新出现的机制，以了解如何将它们放在一起形成或多或少具有凝聚力的结构。特别强调将放在新的方法，以治疗纠正积聚的调节性骨髓细胞在癌症和其他疾病。本次会议的总体目标是：

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This international biomedical conference will be held March 12-15, 2009 at Sheraton Sand Key Hotel in Clearwater, Florida. The purpose of this meeting is to foster exchange of the most recent findings and ideas in novel rapidly developed field of research: regulatory myeloid suppressor cells. Recent years have brought a wealth of information about the important role of these cells in cancer, sepsis, infections, trauma, autoimmunity, and other pathologies. There is growing evidence pointing out on that the expansion of these regulatory cells may represent a common response to all forms of inflammation. A number of studies have suggested that these cells can be a myeloid analog of regulatory T cells due to their high plasticity in response to various stimuli and high potential to suppress ongoing immune responses. Several clinical trails currently target these cells with the goal to improve the immune response in cancer. However, the field as well as the term "regulatory myeloid cells" is highly controversial and many issues remain unresolved. It appears that it is now an excel- lent time to bring together scientists from different fields to discuss various aspects of the expansion, accumulation, differentiation, regulation, and function of these cells in a broad context of immunology of cancer and other diseases. There is a pressing need for the entire field to discuss already described and new emerging mechanisms to see how they can be put together in more or less cohesive structure. Special emphasis will be placed on new approaches to therapeutic correction of accumulation of regulatory myeloid cells in cancer and other diseases. The overall objectives of this conference are: * Assess recent progress in our understanding of the role of myeloid suppressor cells in different pathological conditions; * Examine how different molecular pathways contribute to the function of myeloid suppressive cells and affect immune response in cancer, trauma, autoimmune, and infectious diseases; * Evaluate different mechanisms of immune suppression in cancer and other diseases; * Discuss impact of these mechanisms of therapy of different pathological conditions; * Review and discuss how our knowledge of myeloid suppressor cells can be translated into new therapeutics. Public Health Relevance: Recent years have brought a wealth of information about the important role of immune suppressive myeloid cells in cancer, sepsis, infections, trauma, autoimmunity, and other pathologies. There is growing evidence to suggest that the expansion of these regulatory cells may represent a common response to all forms of inflammation. A number of studies have suggested that these cells can be a myeloid analog of regulatory T cells due to their high plasticity in response to various stimuli and high potential to sup- press ongoing immune responses. Several clinical trails target these cells with the goal to improve the immune response in cancer. However, the field as well as the term "regulatory myeloid cells" is highly controversial and many issues remain unresolved. It appears that it is an excellent time now to bring together scientists from different fields to discuss various aspects of the expansion, accumulation, differentiation, regulation, and function of these cells in a broad context of immunology of cancer and other diseases. We plan to bring together scientists from diverse areas of research working on myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), regulatory (suppressive) dendritic cells, as well as suppressive macrophages. We hope that this meeting generates productive discussion and fosters new collaborations, helpful for the development of this field. In addition to specialized sessions, we plan to have several plenary lectures presented by scientists who are not necessarily involved in study of myeloid suppressive cells but whose work may directly impact this field. The conference will be held from March 12 through March 15 2009 at Sheraton Sand Key Resort, 1160 Gulf Bulevard, Clearwater Beach, FL 33767 located on the Pinellas Suncoast, just 21 miles west of the Tampa International Airport.