A genetic and molecular perspective for present time clinical immunology

During the last few decades, basic scientists and clinicians have gained a deeper insight of the cellular and molecular physiology of the immune syste m. The widespread application of molecular biology and genetic techniques h as advanced our understanding of states of health and disease, bringing for th renewed hopes concerning the advent of a more "specific" therapeutic era of clinical immunology. The precise structural and genetic characterizatio n of molecular complexes such as B and T-cell receptors, the Major Histocom patibility Complex (MHC), cytokines, chemokines, cellular receptors and co- receptors has produced a wealth of information open to both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. We herein review several recent advances in the molec ular and genetic characterization of immune deficiency states, autoimmunity and the induction of antigen specific immune unresponsiveness or tolerance , together with the therapeutic implications of these findings.