2012-11-08 07:45:50 - Joost Oppenheim to Speak at Cytokines and Inflammation Conference Jan 31 – Feb 1, 2013, San Diego-CA

Joost J. Oppenheim, Chief of Laboratory of Molecular Immunoregulation at NCI, NIH will give a featured presentation on “Anti-tumor Effects of Alarmins” at GTC’s 11th Cytokines and Inflammation Conference to be held in San Diego, CA on January 31 – February 1, 2013 by GTC.

Recent studies have identified a group of structurally diverse multifunctional host proteins that is rapidly released following pathogen challenge or cell injury and, most importantly, is able to both chemotactically recruit and activate dendritic antigen-presenting cells. These potent immunostimulants, called alarmins, including defensins, cathelicidin (LL37), eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN), lactoferrin (LF), granulysin, high-mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1) and HMGN1 serve as early warning signals to activate innate and adaptive immune systems. They interact with chemokine-like

receptors and activating receptors on host cells. Dr. Oppenheim’s group is further evaluating the antitumor effects of these alarmins. This work is supported by the Intramural Program of the NIH, NCI.

Dr. Oppenheim trained as a clinical associate at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Maryland. He returned to the National Institute of Dental Research and subsequently headed its Section of Cellular Immunology. Since 1983, he has been head of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunoregulation, NCI-Frederick. Dr. Oppenheim has devoted his research career to the study of cytokines. He was a codiscoverer of Interleukin 1, the Interleukin 8 and Monocyte Chemotactic Peptide 1 chemokines. Most recently has been identifying cellular granule products and nuclear binding proteins as “alarmins” with cytokine-like functions.

The GTC Cytokines and Inflammation conferences are an established meeting point for academic scientists and industry clinical developers to exchange their complementary approaches in the field of cytokine biology. Participating organizations represent a great selection of innovative medical organizations from academia (City of Hope, NCI, NIH, USC, Sanford-Burnham, Cleveland Clinic, UCLA, University of Florida, etc.), industry (Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genentech, HUMIGEN, MedImmune, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novo Nordisk, etc.) and the US FDA.

This conference is also part of the 2nd Novel Immunotherapeutics Summit, which consists of this track and three other concurrent tracks:
1) 5th Immunotherapeutics & Immunomonitoring
2) 2nd Allergy & Respiratory Drug Discovery
3) Immunotoxicity & Immunogenicity

For more information, please visit www.gtcbio.com