Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns in Human Diseases

 This book presents current understanding of the importance of modern immunology in the etiopathogenesis of human diseases and explores how this understanding is impacting on diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and prophylaxis. As the core of modern immunology, the “danger/injury model” is introduced and addressed throughout the book. Volume I of the book describes the network of damage-associated molecular pattern molecules (DAMPs) and examines the central role of DAMPs in cellular stress responses and associated regulated cell death, the promotion and resolution of inflammation, the activation of innate lymphoid cells and unconventional T cells, the stimulation of adaptive immunity, and tissue repair. The significance of DAMPs in a wide range of human diseases will then be explored in Volume II of the book, with discussion of the implications of injury-induced innate immunity for present and future treatments. This book is written for professionals from all medical and paramedical disciplines who are interested in the introduction of innovative data from immunity and inflammation research into clinical practice. The readership will include practitioners and clinicians such as hematologists, rheumatologists, traumatologists, oncologists, intensive care anesthetists, endocrinologists such as diabetologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, pharmacists, and transplantologists.

“The book “Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns in Human Diseases-Induced Innate Immune Responses” by Walter Gottlieb Land is a rich, all-inclusive source of knowledge on Danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) biology. These molecules are actively or passively emitted by stressed, injured, living or dying cells, resulting in immune system activation and response. This simple concept hides numerous implications to homeostasis, development and disease, which are here explained. Not only are all basic elements on DAMPs presented, but also comprehensive knowledge on immunology into which DAMPs biology is seamlessly interwoven. Given the biology of DAMPs, innate immunity is the focus of this first of three books, and goes into depth on cellular immunity and humoral immunity mechanisms, including aspects on microbiome and metabolism, sides of immunity that are gaining appreciation as to their roles in immune function. This book is a treasure for immunologists, non-immunologists, students, researchers and clinicians alike.” (Eitan Okun, MD, Ph.D., Associate Professor, The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life sciences, Bar Ilan University, Israel)

“This first in-depth publication on the role of DAMPs in human diseases, is a valuable reference for medical and paramedical professionals wishing to understand DAMP-promoted immune processes and their implications for human health. The book is an excellent addition to the library of individuals who are daily confronted with one of the many inflammatory disorders, be they of sterile or infectious nature. To facilitate better understanding of this new branch of immunology/biomedicine, the book contains a wealth of didactic figures that illustrate environmental injury-induced immune pathways and tissue repairing regenerative responses. The readership will find the chapters exciting and motivating enough to further studying the novel concept of our immune defense on environmental stresses and/or tissue injury. Finally, this timely book has been written by Walter G. Land, MD, PhD, Professor-Emeritus at the University of Munich, Germany, a surgeon-scientist pioneer in clinical organ transplantation, one of the most exciting and ever-evolving fields of modern medicine.” (Prof. Jerzy W. Kupiec-Weglinski, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA)

Walter G. Land is Professor Emeritus of the LMU University in Munich, Germany. After earning his MD, he spent 4 years specializing in Experimental Surgery, Immunology, and Organ Transplantation at the Institute for Surgical Research, LMU University, Munich. In 1979 he performed the first pancreas transplant in Germany at Klinikum Großhadern, where he subsequently spent almost 30 years as Head of the Transplantation Center. He also held a position as C3 Professor for Surgery and Transplantation Surgery in Munich for almost 20 years, until 2004. After his retirement as a surgeon, he is still scientifically active in the field of innate immunity, while also holding positions as Visiting Professor at Başkent University, Ankara (Turkey) and as Professeur Conventionné at the University of Strasbourg (France). Professor Land has been a co-founder of many European and German Societies, including the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT), European College of Organ Transplantation, the German Transplantation Society, the German Academy of Transplantation Medicine. He is also a member of the Transplantation Society and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and an honorary member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and the European Academy of Tumor Immunology. Professor Land has chaired the European Society for Organ Transplantation and the German Academy for Transplantation Medicine.  He is the author or editor of many articles and books and was awarded the Erich Lexer Prize by the German Surgical Society in 1991, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1996, the Bavarian State Medal for Social Merit in 1997, the Millennium Medal of the Transplantation Society in 2000, and the Maharshi Sushruta Prize for Transplantation Biology in India in 2005.