The morning of the second day of the conference saw another wonderful series of master lectures, Pirfenidone in vitro this time delivered by Rafi Ahmed (USA) and Stefan Kaufmann (Germany). Rafi Ahmed described the human B-cell response to influenza virus in people infected with the 2009 H1N1

pandemic strain and discussed the novel vaccination approaches for this virus which has been extensively discussed during the past decade. Stefan Kaufmann focused his lecture on host-pathogen interactions in tuberculosis. He described the novel vaccination strategies based on the improved rBCG strain which expresses listeriolysin but is devoid of urease. He showed that this candidate vaccine induces better protection and has proven to be safer than the wild type parental BCG. This vaccine has already successfully entered a phase II clinical trial. He highlighted the importance of biomarkers that could help to (i) discriminate

latently infected individuals and patients with active TB, (ii) monitor clinical vaccine and drug trial, (iii) define mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, resistance and susceptibility and (iv) finally predict the risk of disease development. The close of the second day saw two more master lectures. One was given by Narinder Mehra (India) who highlighted the clinical relevance of antibodies in transplantation, the range of technologies for their detection and the importance of defining donor-specific and anti-HLA antibodies both in pre- as well as post-transplant stages. Narinder Mehra new particularly stressed the potential

role of antibodies to ICG-001 price MICA, the molecule expressed primarily on endothelial cells, in transplantation. The other master lecture was given by Shigeo Koyasu (Japan) who presented studies on the type 2 innate immune response as predicted by natural helper (NH) cells. He described the role of these cells in lymphoid clusters in adipose tissues, termed fat associated lymphoid clusters (FACCs). The NH cells produce Th2 cytokines constitutively and support self renewal of B1 cells and IgA production by B cells. The concluding day of the Congress started with the master lectures by GP Talwar and Vijay Kuchroo. GP Talwar gave an overview of immunological approaches for the control of fertility through vaccination against human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which prevents unwanted pregnancy without impairment of ovulation and derangement of menstrual regularity. Recent studies by the Talwar group suggest that this vaccine is likely to have therapeutic applications in the treatment of hormone dependant cancers. Vijay Kuchroo (USA) highlighted T-cell subsets, particularly the IL-17-producing Th17 cells and their reciprocal relationship for the generation and induction of autoimmunity and FoxP3 Treg cells that inhibit autoimmune tissue injury.