Immunology immune system

Harnett, W. and Harnett, M.M. (1999) Phosphorylcholine friend or foe of the immune system Immunology Today 20,125-129. 

Imaginary number Immune system Immunology Impact crater Imprinting... 

Sarkadi, B., Muller, M. and Hollo, Z. (1996) The multidrug transporters - proteins of an ancient immune system. Immunology Letters, 54, 215-219. 

The immune system can seem impossibly complex and indeed the study of the immune system (immunology) is without doubt one of the most complex arenas of biology. 

Celada, F., Seiden, P.E. A computer model of ceUulax interactions in the immune system. Immunology Today 13(2), 56-62 (1992)... 

Advances in immunology during the last part of the twentieth century have continued at a rapid rate and cytokines and immune cells having specific markers continue to be defined. A number of natural and synthetic immunotherapeutic agents have been discovered that can modulate components of the normal or aberrant immune system, through stimulation or suppression. However, most of these substances also have inherent adverse side effects. 

A number of chemical compounds are potent sensitizers that can lead to serious immunological reactions. Immunotoxicology explores interactions between chemical compounds and the immune system. Chemicals can amplify, attenuate, or otherwise modify immunological reactions subsequent to exposure. - ... 

Unit X discusses drugp that affect the immune system. The unit consists of two chapters immunologic agents and antineoplastic drugs. 

Immunologic Toxicity—The occurrence of adverse effects on the immune system that may result from exposure to environmental agents such as chemicals. 

Immunoinformatics is a newly emergent subdiscipline within the informatic sciences that deals specifically with the unique problems of the immune system. Like bioinformatics, immunoinformatics complements, but never replaces, laboratory experimentation. It allows researchers to address, in a systematic manner, the most important questions in the still highly empirical world of immunology and vaccine discovery. 

The ideal of any vaccine is to provide life-long protection to the individual against disease. Immunological memory (Chapter 14) depends upon the survival of cloned populations of small B and T lymphocytes (memory cells). These small lymphocytes have a lifespan in the body of ca. 15-20 years. Thus, if the immune system is not boosted, either by natural exposure to the organism or by re-immunization, then immunity gained in childhood will be attenuated or lost completely by the age of 30. Those vaccines which provide only poor protection against disease have proportionately reduced time-spans of effectiveness. Yellow fever vaccination, which is highly effective, must therefore be repeated at 10-year intervals, whilst typhoid vaccines are only effective for 1-3 years. Whether or not immunization in childhood is boosted at adolescence or in adult life depends on the relative risks associated with the infection as a function of age. 

A limited study in animals also presents evidence for increased susceptibility to Streptococcus zooepidomicus (Aran d et al. 1986). Immune system effects observed in mice exposed orally to trichloroethylene included inhibition of cell-mediated immunity, delayed type hypersensitivity, and inhibition of antibody-mediated immunity (Sanders et al. 1982). Female mice appeared to be more sensitive than male mice. A study in which a susceptible strain of mice was treated with intraperitoneal injections of trichloroethylene suggests that trichloroethylene can accelerate the autoimmune response (Khan et al. 1995). The immune system may be a sensitive end point for toxic effects from low-level exposure to trichloroethylene however, no firm conclusions can be drawn from the available information. Additional human and animal studies are needed to better characterize this end point and determine the potential for immunological effects for people exposed to trichloroethylene at hazardous waste sites. 

BAEUERLE P A and HENKEL T (1994) Fimction and activation of NFkB in the immune system Annual Review in Immunology 12, 141-79. 

One of the more difficult to manage aspects of compound reactivity is the potential for idiosyncratic immunological reactions to covalent protein-compound complexes. Normally the immune system does not respond to xenobiotics of molecular weight less than 1000 Daltons. When, however, a drag is covalently linked to a... 

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