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 Today as never before innovation is a dominating force in daily life, spurring ever more rapid change. Globalization, the increasing mobility of people and ideas and the potential of science and its applications hold out both promise and challenges for a constantly evolving society. Hence the need to build an educational and training system that meets the needs of an economy that is increasingly based on human capital. At the same time, the industrial world faces the additional challenge of recasting social policies to take account of its aging population. Many responses to these needs could come from research, as shown by the new opportunities to enhance health and the quality of life offered by molecular biology. However, these very developments also raise questions and fears that could stifle progress in the field if an effort is not made to involve the public in a real, open debate. It is therefore essential that we focus our gaze on the horizons of development in order to identify risks and opportunities. This is the aim of the eighth edition of "Ten Nobels for the Future", the last of this century. |
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Immunological Memory During the past 100 years the nature of immunological memory has been widely debated, not only by basic immunologists but also in the clinical context and from a social and preventive, medical point of view. Vaccinations against classical childhood diseases, including polio, measles etc., have been very successful, and pox virus has been successfully eradicated by general vaccinations with vaccinia virus. Nevertheless, efficient vaccines are still lacking against tuberculosis, leprosy and most classical parasitic diseases, including malaria, leishmaniasis and schistosomiasis. Importantly, vaccines are also lacking against HIV, herpes simplex virus type I and II, against papilloma virus infections or against most tumors. In addition, some vaccines, including measles and mumps, are less efficient than others since they "break through". This presentation summarizes first general parameters of cell-mediated and antibody-mediated immune protection, second mechanisms responsible for what we call "immunological memory", third how the various difficulties and successes outlined above might be explained, and last what practical consequences these views suggest. |
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