Main description:

The human immune system is a complex network of tissues and organs dispersed throughout the body. Immunology, as one of the most rapidly evolving fields in biomedical research, has to date covered the essential cellular and molecular events necessary for immune responses to occur. However, it has paid relatively little attention to important developmental processes underlying the formation of the tissues themselves that carry out immune responses in humans and other mammalians. In contrast to the thymus and bone marrow that are the sole tissues for generating mature leukocytes for antigen recognition and handling in humans and most mammalian species, the peripheral lymphoid tissues where adaptive immune responses are focused display broad tissue distribution and possess diverse architectural characteristics. These organs develop prior to the individual's exposure to external antigens, and despite their similar functions, their varied appearances indicate a substantial complexity of tissue ontogeny.

This volume presents a comprehensive overview of the developmental features of the major peripheral lymphoid organs, thus examining the connection between immunological functionality and structural characteristics utilizing a developmental approach, for an audience ranging from undergraduate students to senior researchers in immunology, histology and clinical medicine.

Contents:

Introduction: Evolution of peripheral lymphoid organs

Common themes in lymphoid organ development
Cellular partners in the embryonic induction of lymphoid territories: origins and transcriptional regulation
Lymphotoxin/TNF and related molecules as morphogenic factors
NF-kB signaling and lymphoid organ
Homeostatic chemokines, cytokines and their receptors in peripheral lymphoid organ development

Development of lymph nodes in humans and rodents
Cellular and molecular determinants of lymphatic system development: Programmed and inflammation-induced differentiation
Development of lymph nodes in humans and mice
Development of lymph node circulation and homing mechanism

4Programmed and nascent gut-associated organized lymphoid tissues.
Development of Peyer's patches
Cryptopatches and Isolated Lymphoid Follicles: Aspects of development, homeostasis and function

Single complexity: the spleen
Developmental and structural characteristics of the spleen in humans and rodents
Formation and maintenance of different lymphoid territories in spleen

Age-associated decline in peripheral lymphoid organ functions