More than 140 years ago, lupus erythematosus (LE) was recognized as a disease entity by clinicians working in the field of dermatology, which had only recently become an independent medical discipline.
The present volume of "e;Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology"e; is a series of papers on subjects that are relevant to the growing use of 'wild mice' in immunological, microbiological and genetical research.
The last decade has witnessed rapid progress in our under- standing of the mechanisms of protein export and secretion in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
This volume deals with the structure and function of molecules that have, during the last decade, turned out to have a central role in immune responses.
All but one* of the following articles represent comprehensive reports on a workshop held between 7 and 9 May 1981 at the Institute of Virology and Immunobiology, University of Wfuzburg, Federal Republic of Germany.
Several discoveries are noteworthy for allowing us to probe the recesses of the virus- infected cell and to search for cryptic viral genomes which might provide clues in our studies of cancer etiology or developmental biology.
It is with great pleasure and ,much interest that I accepted to write the foreword to this book by Paul Doury, Yves Dirheimer, and Serge Pattin on the subject of "e;algodystrophy.
The discovery of specifically acquired immunity which followed the major contributions of Louis Pasteur completely over-shadowed the first studies of the host's natural resistance.
From the first to the third of August, 1980, an international sym- posium entitled "e;New Trends in Allergy"e; was held in Munich, sponsored by the Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, in cooperation with the German Society for Allergy and Immunity Research and the European Society for Dermatological Research.
Bone marrow transplantation, the goal which integrates hemato- logists, immunologists, geneticists, oncologists and specialists of several other fields, has overcome its state of stagnation in recent years.
With the introduction of antibiotics acute inflammatory disease has ceased to be the dominant problem in general medical practice and its place is now increasingly occupied by chronic inflamma- tory disease of which the rheumatic diseases constitute the most important group.
Prominent progress in molecular biology was only made when it became possible to separate functionally distinct molecules by taking advantage of their biophysical properties.
