Specialty: Bone and the immune system are both complex tissues, which, respectively,
regulate the skeleton and the body's responses to invading pathogens. It has
become increasingly clear that critical interactions between these two organ
systems frequently occur. This is particularly true for the development of
immune cells in the bone marrow and for the function of bone cells in health and
disease. However, because these two disciplines developed independently,
investigators in each don't always fully appreciate the significance of the
other. This book is meant to provide a detailed overview of the many ways that
bone and immune cells interact. The goal is to provide basic and clinical
scientists with a better understanding of the role that the immune system and
bone play in the development and function of each other so that advances in both
fields will be facilitated.
The focus of the book will be both on basic
pathways and translational science, which will apply basic knowledge to clinical
diseases. Chapter content will range from basic descriptions of the various cell
systems and their development to the signals that cause them to interact during
normal physiology and disease. Approximately half the book will focus on the
role that osteoimmunology plays in the development of human diseases.
This is a rapidly developing area that is of interest to a wide spectrum
of researchers, students, and fellows in immunology, rheumatology, hematology,
and bone biology - all of whom need to develop a more complete understanding of
their previously separate disciplines and the mechanisms by which they interact.
The book will be written at the level of a graduate school text. It will be
easily readable by someone with a college level understanding of biologic
science. However, it will contain details that will make it appealing to
researchers in any of the relevant areas who want to fully understand the role
that interactions between the bone and immune system play in the responses that
they are studying.
Pharmaceutical companies are very interested in this
topic as it represents a new area for the design of drug targets. The recent
development of an antibody therapy against RANK ligand, which was originally
identified as a regulator of immune cells, but is now know to also regulate bone
resorption, is one example of how research in osteoimmunology can be used to
develop a drug.
- Presents a comprehensive, translational source for all aspects of
osteoimmunology in one reference work
- Experts in bone biology and immunology (from all areas of academic and
medical research) take readers from the bench research (cellular and molecular
mechanism), through genomic and proteomic analysis, all the way to clinical
analysis (histopathology and imaging) and new therapeutic approaches.
- Clear presentations by bone biologists of the cellular and molecular
mechanisms underlying bone cell development leading to bone and immunological
diseases such as Lupus
- Clear presentations by immunologists of how immune cells develop and how the
immune system plays a role in bone diseases like osteoporosis and arthritis
