Immune response nonspecific immunity

One of the most interesting aspects of probiotic supplementation is directed toward immune responses. Orally administered probiotic strains of LAB exert a positive impact on nonspecific and specific host immune responses. Nonspecific immune responses constitute the first line of host defense. 

Interferons (lENs) (52,53), a family of species-specific vertebrate proteins, confer nonspecific resistance to a broad range of viral infections, affect cell proliferation, and modulate immune responses. AH three principal interferons, a-interferon (lEN-a) produced by blood leucocytes, P-interferon (lEN-P) by fibroblasts, and y-interferon (lEN-y) by lymphocytes, also have antiviral activity. The abiUty of interferons to inhibit growth of transplantable and carcinogen-induced tumor led to research showing the direct antiproliferative and indirect immune-mediated antitumor activities (see Chemotherapeutics, anticancer). IENs have been found to be efficacious in certain malignancies and viral infections, eg, hairy cell leukemia (85% response) and basal cell carcinoma (86% response). However, the interferons do have adverse side effects (54). 

The prophylactic stimulation of the immune system using vaccines and bacterins is time-consuming. Of even greater value would be the abiUty to activate the system to combat a disease attack already underway, or to be able to increase the response to abnormal cells and neutralize neoplasia in any organ of the body. Several compounds, some unique entities and some already in use for other purposes, have shown potential utiUty as such nonspecific immune stimulants. 

Immune responses are the result of an effective collaboration between innate (natural and relatively nonspecific) and acquired (adaptive, and extremely specific) com-... 

Schwarz, E. et al., Oral administration of freshly expressed juice of Echinacea purpurea herbs fail to stimulate the nonspecific immune response in healthy young men Results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study, J Immunother, 25, 413, 2002. 

Thus the total soil pollution was connected with a respiratory system and a digestive tract. Both systems were also sensitive to such urban pollutants as heavy metals and PAH. For radionuclides the correlation with the given nosologies was not revealed. The asthma morbidity was mostly connected with soil pollution rates. This circumstance, apparently, can be related to nonspecific action of pollutants on a human organism, because the etiology of asthma is connected with the human immune defense system and allergy state (Roite, 1991). The last was shown for pesticides (Nikolaev et al., 1988) and heavy metals (Drouet et al., 1990). The sensitized immune system is, apparently, responsible for chronic toxic effects of other pollutants at low doses (Sidorenko et al., 1991 Novak and Magnussen, 1993). 

There is a great deal of evidence that AmB can exert a number of effects directly on cells of the immune system, and particularly on macrophages to increase nonspecific defense mechanisms against pathogens and cancer cells. These mechanisms include the production of nitric oxide (NO) (32) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) (33), which could contribute to the antifungal and antiparasitic activity of AmB. However, excess TNF-a production could also be responsible for some of the side effects associated with AmB treatment, such as fever and chills. 

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