FORALLVENT Symposium "Novel Avenues in Prevention and Treatment of Allergies"

15th January 2009
Leiden University Medical Centre

The meeting brought together experts in the field of immunology, some with particular focus on the gut to give talks and to take part in discussions on new avenues for prevention of allergic disorders.

The FORALLVENT immunology symposium focused on the functioning of the immune system in relation to inflammation and tolerance with particular focus on the gut. Talks were given that covered the question of how chronic, low level, inflammations in different environmental settings lead to different immune profiles with the aim to link epidemiological findings to clinical outcomes. Regarding the role of the gut in controlling the immune system, the speakers covered the anatomy of the immune system associated with the gut and the inflammatory diseases of the gut. Experts discussed the issues of how vitamin A is related to the induction of regulatory T cells and how dendritic cells are playing a central role in determining an inflammatory or a tolerogenic immune response. Moreover, the basic mechanisms of tolerance were covered and recommendations were made for the pathways that need to be targeted in order to prevent overt inflammation.

The meeting was open to researchers from industry who are interested to join academics in thinking about the future of diseases such as respiratory and food allergies in particular and other inflammatory disorders in general.

Agenda

For more information, please contact Ms. Nicola Korherr (Munich), nicola.korherr at med.uni-muenchen.de