Immune system immunotoxic mixtures

Organic solvents, which induce CYP2E1, are comprised of a few broad chemical classes, including hydrocarbons such as benzene and toluene, halogenated aliphatic compounds such as carbon tetrachloride and dichloroethane, aliphatic alcohols such as ethanol, and hydroxyethers such as 2-methoxyethanol. Industrial solvents are frequently mixtures of several compounds. The most frequent solvent-associated toxicity occurs from occupational exposure. A number of organic solvents have been examined for their effects on the immune system, and the requirement for their bioactivation to produce immunotoxicity has been well established. 

The study of immunotoxic mixtures is complicated by the large number and diversity of chemicals agents that are toxic to the immune system, multiple mechanisms by which the immune system is impacted, and exposures that are almost always to mixtures containing numerous immunotoxins. 

Immunotoxic chemicals can interfere with the body s ability to ward off disease, can induce and exacerbate allergic responses, and contribute to autoimmune diseases. The complexity of the immune system and its interaction with other body systems makes it particularly vulnerable to attack by xenobiotics. Studies that have been carried out, however, have demonstrated that a wide variety of chemicals are immunotoxic and that chemical mixtures such as those contained in air polluted with the products of combustion, industrial emissions, and tobacco smoke is immunotoxic. Such polluted air can induce immunostimulative responses and bring on allergic reactions in previously sensitized individuals. 

Oral studies of Aroclor mixtures in monkeys confirm the findings of immunotoxicity in the other species and further indicate that the immune system of monkeys is particularly sensitive to PCBs. 

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