Mutations in the human genome are regarded as potentially disastrous events that lead to carcinogenesis. From the vantage point of B cell immunology, however, programmed DNA alterations at the antibody gene loci are essential for efficient antibody responses. A plethora of recent findings are beginning to illuminate open questions about the precise molecular mechanisms of these diversification processes, their regulation, and how errors in these pathways lead to cancer. Furthermore, the very same class of mutator enzymes plays an underappreciated role in non-lymphoid cancers, in antiviral responses and in epigenetic reprogramming. Antibody diversification not only shapes the repertoires of the immunological memory, but also those of auto-antibodies. The Keystone Symposia meeting on Mutations, Malignancy and Memory – Antibodies and Immunity will provide both a platform to integrate these more or less isolated fields and an opportunity to identify interfaces that could be relevant for therapeutic approaches in malignancies and autoimmune diseases.

Other deadlines: Abstract & scholarship - November 15, 2011 Late-breaking abstract - December 15, 2011