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This book provides an updated account of tight junctions of different epithelia and endothelia and addresses their anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, synthesis, assembly, and modulation. It also discusses the relationship between molecular structure, function, regulation, posttranslational modifications of tight junction proteins and their role in gut microbiota maintenance, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and intestinal barrier dysfunction-associated disorders important for the progression of human cancers. This book presents the pathological alterations of tight junctions at the blood-brain barrier that intensify or even initiate neurological dysfunction. Further, it reviews the significance of tight junctions and tight junction proteins in cancer development, infectious diseases, allergic reactions, and autoimmune disorders. Lastly, it highlights strategies for modulating tight junctions to enhance drug availability and organ deposition. This book is immensely useful for basic, translational, clinical, and interdisciplinary cancer researchers, practicing oncologists, and immunologists.

This book provides a systematic review of the development, function, and patho-physiologic role of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) in humans. The chapters of the book discuss the origin and discovery, hematopoietic development as well as molecular regulation of pDCs in the context of immune activation as well as immune tolerance. It also discusses the role of pDCs in human diseases, including infections, autoimmune/inflammatory diseases, cancers and metabolic disorders, and opportunities for pDC‐targeting therapies in these varied clinical contexts.

Of the two disciplines in parallel development for two decades, tumor immunology and transplantation immunology, the latter has thrived and has led to some of the most critical discoveries in immunobiology. The former continues to thwart both scientists and clinicians alike.The goal of immunologists in modern day research is to develop a simple and effective means to manipulate cancer in vivo, possibly encompassing several venues: identifying a phenotypic marker and the use of either active or passive immunization; include the use of passive reagents carrying'warheads'to selectively destroy cancer cells; or altering the basic process of cell survival.This excellent multidiscipline-authored volume presents a theme which has not been well described before. The papers include both basic and clinical science and range from sophisticated molecular biology to little more than phenomenology (e.g. the increased association of cancer in some autoimmune diseases and increased presentation of autoimmune phenomena in malignant condition). This, however, is state-of-the-art.This collection of themes will be of use not only to bench scientists, but also to clinicians who treat patients. The book represents progress at the cutting edge of this discipline, and points the way to further developments in the'black box'of immunology.