Introducing our new series: Clinical and Experimental Treatment of…

As an official journal of the British Society of Immunology, the journal Clinical & Experimental Immunology is dedicated to promoting excellence in immunological research and to support the education of future generations of immunologists [1]. However, we noticed that there is currently a lack of scientific and educational material that could support aspiring medical and immunology students to better understand the underlying mechanisms that lead to immune-mediated diseases, as well as the ways current treatments lead to amelioration of symptoms and, potentially, to resolution of diseases. For a wide range of diseases, there has been substantial progress over the past few years in the understanding the underlying immunological mechanisms that lead to disease and pathology. This progress has allowed the development of novel therapeutic approaches to treat various diseases, first in animal models and then in clinical trials. Therefore, we felt compelled to launch a new article series covering the newest developments in this field of research. We entitle this novel series “Clinical and Experimental Treatment of […]”.

Each article in this series will cover a single disease and in a systematic way will address the following topics:

• The current understanding of the etiology of the disease and the underlying mechanisms leading to immunopathology associated with the disease.

• The current treatment methods. The efficacy of different approaches and side effects each of these treatments would be compared.

• The recent developments in our understanding of the disease in the context of how such novel understanding may lead to improved future treatment. Specifically, the reader would become familiarized which novel treatments are currently tested in pre-clinical as well as in clinical studies.

As the very first article of this series, Alice Long and Jane Buckner explained the etiology, immunopathology and the current treatment of Type-1 Diabetes [2]. They explained the underlying genetic and environmental cues that contribute to the initiation and the progression of Type-1 Diabetes; covered the current limitations in preventing or healing of the disease; and gave an overview of which novel immunotherapeutic approaches are currently tested in preclinical as well as in clinical settings. These novel approaches covered both currently tested immune therapy to prevent further beta cell rejection, as well as stem cell based replacements of insulin producing beta cells.

Additionally, a number of further articles in this series are under way, covering topics such as Juvenile Arthritis, Graft-versus-Host Disease and Multiples Sclerosis. We feel such a novel series of article may not only enlighten aspiring students, but could also become a standard for practizing clinicians to regularly consult worldwide. In particular, this series could help them to better understand the effects of particular drugs and which novel therapeutic approaches might be available for an improved treatment in the not-so-distant future. In this way, we hope to further the mission of the British Society of Immunology to support the education of future generations of immunologists, both researchers and clinicians. Given you might have become interested in contributing to this review article series by suggesting or writing a “Clinical and Experimental Treatment of…” article based on an immune mediated disease or condition of general interest, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Editorial office under journals@immunology.org

Conflict of interests

None declared.