Emergence and Evolution of Secondary Lymphoid Organs

Prion pathogenesis and secondary lymphoid organs (SLO)

Prion diseases are subacute neurodegenerative diseases that affect humans and a range of domestic and free-ranging animal species. These diseases are characterized by the accumulation of PrP (Sc), an abnormally folded isoform of the cellular prion protein (PrP (C)), in affected tissues. The pathology during prion disease appears to occur almost exclusively within the central nervous system. The...

Cutting Edge: Secondary Lymphoid Organs Are

Reaction-Diffusion Modelling of Interferon Distribution in Secondary Lymphoid Organs

This paper proposes a quantitative model of the reaction-diffusion type to examine the distribution of interferon-α (IFNα) in a lymph node (LN). The numerical treatment of the model is based on using an original unstructured mesh generation software Ani3D and nonlinear finite volume method for diffusion equations. The study results in suggestion that due to the variations in hydraulic conductiv...

Elucidating the functional anatomy of secondary lymphoid organs.

Functional anatomy offers an attempt to exploit anatomical information as a platform from which to decipher mechanistic details of complex or multistep immunological processes. Immune function depends on structural organization, therefore this approach contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the immune system. Major advances in functional anatomy require progress in both experimental te...

Lymphoid Neogenesis and Tertiary Lymphoid Organs in Transplanted Organs

The progressive organization of immune effectors into functional ectopic lymphoid structures, named tertiary lymphoid organs (TLO), has been observed in many conditions in which target antigens fail to be eliminated by the immune system. Not surprisingly, TLO have been recurrently identified in chronically rejected allografts. Although significant progress has been made over the last decades in...