Granulomas in Infectious and Non-Infectious Diseases (J4)

This meeting will address the basic mechanisms of granulomatous inflammation and will focus on several chronic inflammatory diseases in which persistent granuloma formation is the central pathogenic mechanism of disease. The meeting will run in parallel another on Host Response in Tuberculosis, and will include two joint plenary sessions where both audiences will meet together. Granulomas form when the immune system attempts to wall off substances that it perceives as foreign but is unable to eliminate. These substances include infectious organisms such as bacteria and fungi as well as other known foreign materials. In some cases however, the offending antigen is unknown as in sarcoidosis. A granuloma is therefore a special type of inflammation, typically an organized collection of macrophages that occurs in a wide variety of infectious and non-infectious diseases including schistosomiasis, histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, Crohn’s disease, sarcoidosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. The goal of this Keystone Symposia meeting on Granulomas in Infectious and Non-Infectious Diseases is to bring together researchers, clinicians, and members of the pharmaceutical industry to discuss the basic mechanics of granuloma formation, elucidate common pathogenic mechanisms, and identify novel areas of therapeutic intervention for the large number of chronic granulomatous diseases.