News and Publications

Chairman's Overview

Richard J. Ulevitch, Ph.D.

Today more than ever, an aphorism often applied to business can be paraphrased to make it applicable to the fast pace of biomedical research: Scientific research is like riding a bicycle. Either you keep up your speed or you fall down. The research achievements of the Department of Immunology during 1997--1998 reflect a remarkable ability to both keep up the pace of previous years and maintain the high scientific profile that is expected of our scientists. The substantial number of important findings published in prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journals is evidence of accomplishments by members of this department.

Among the highlights of the past year are contributions to a series of studies on the structure and function of cell-surface proteins essential for recognition of non-self antigens and induction of immune responses. The findings from the laboratory of Luc Teyton are part of an ongoing collaboration with other colleagues at TSRI, most notably, Ian Wilson and K.C. Garcia. The results of research on the structure and function of MHC proteins and of the T-cell receptor appeared in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America, Science, and Immunity. From these important efforts, a picture of the molecular mechanisms of antigen recognition is emerging that provides an understanding of essential parts of the antigen-recognition systems with a level of detail previously unavailable.

The scientific community also looks to the department as a source of new insights into molecular mechanisms that control cellular functions within the immune system. During the past year, a series of articles by Jonathan Sprent and his colleagues were published in Immunity and Journal of Experimental Medicine. These articles describe how T-lymphocyte function is determined by essential developmental processes. This work reflects many years of commitment of Jon and his coworkers to determining the complexities of T-cell development; such knowledge is essential for understanding how these cells function in health and disease. Recognition of Jon's many scientific contributions was also recently acknowledged by his nomination to the Royal Society, an important scientific society of the United Kingdom. Dr. Sprent also is serving as president of the American Association of Immunologists in 1998--1999.

The role of the immune system in many human diseases is the impetus to use basic knowledge provided by many members of this department in efforts to ultimately derive new approaches to treatment. One notable example of such efforts is the work of Nora Sarvetnick and her coworkers. Their studies of diabetes caused by dysfunctional or inappropriate immune responses were published in the journals Nature Medicine and Immunity. Implicit in such studies that probe molecular mechanisms of disease is the potential to modulate the immune response and thus prevent or alter the disease itself. Another particularly striking example of the application of increased knowledge of the immune system is an article by Holger Lode and Ralph Reisfeld in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America. They describe how harnessing one of the cytokines of the immune system, IL-12, leads to protective immunity against a murine neuroblastoma. Thus, understanding the function of proteins produced by cells of the immune system may lead to novel and powerful treatments for malignant disease. Several other groups in the department have been instrumental in defining the steps involved in angiogenesis, a key event in both malignant and inflammatory disease. Findings from the laboratory of David Cheresh, published in Cell, provide new information about the role of integrins and metalloproteinases in angiogenesis. Moreover, 2 other members of the department, Barbara Mueller and Wolfram Ruf, have provided new information that links the coagulation system and tumor cell spread in vivo. In its totality, such work promises to stimulate the development of new means to interrupt the essential steps in the events that lead to dissemination of malignant cells.

Another indication of our accomplishments is participation of our faculty in the most important national and international scientific meetings. During the past year, members of the department have chaired sessions at Keystone and Gordon conferences and at meetings of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, providing recognition for their own work and for the achievements of the department.

For the coming year, we anticipate a continued high level of productivity. The high level of extramural funding, the superb institutional core and other facilities, and the easy access to the best scientific colleagues who make up the staff of TSRI provide an environment that facilitates cutting-edge medical research. Nevertheless, in the end, the progress in immunology research we witnessed during the past year was due to the determination, creativity, dedication, and cooperation of the more than 350 persons who make up the research and support staff of the department. As a group they should, once again, be proud of the accomplishments of the past year and look forward to the new discoveries of the coming year.