Crystal Ball Gazing

Superantigens: Gazing into the crystal ball

The recently determined crystal structures of complexes between bacterial toxin 'superantigens' and MHC class II molecules shed light on the nature of the interactions between these two molecules.

Crystal ball gazing and the effects of fate.

Gazing into a crystal ball to predict kidney transplant outcome.

Kidney transplantation is the optimal therapy for end-stage kidney disease but requires lifelong immunosuppression. Despite improvements in immunosuppression regimens that have reduced rates of acute transplant rejection, long-term allograft survival remains suboptimal. More than 50% of transplanted kidneys from deceased donors fail within 10 years. In order to improve long-term outcomes, physi...

[gazing into a Crystal Ball and Detecting Subjects at Risk for Developing Cutaneous Melanoma].

Cutaneous melanoma is the deadliest skin cancer showing an increasingly growing incidence in white populations of Europe and United States. Intensive research in recent years has begun to unlock its molecular pathogenesis. Screening the neoplasm at an early stage remains primordial. Hence, targeting populations at risk is likely efficient. In such an attempt, the regular clinical examination be...

Crystal-ball gazing--the future of immunological research viewed from the cutting edge.

The concept of gazing into crystal balls to view the future is not something immunologists are particularly prone to do; it is better left to psychics, quacks and astrologers. We are more likely to spend our time looking back, scouring the literature for precedents or clues to explain our latest findings. Yet the 50th Anniversary of the British Society for Immunology (BSI) offers an opportunity...