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Immunotoxicology (sometimes abbreviated as ITOX) is the study of the toxicity of foreign substances called xenobiotics and their effects on the immune system. [1] Some toxic agents that are known to alter the immune system include: industrial chemicals, heavy metals, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, drugs, ultraviolet radiation, air pollutants and some biological materials.
Thus they serve as immunomodulators in immunotherapy (therapy that makes use of immune responses), which can be helpful in treating cancer (where targeted therapy often relies on the immune system being used to attack cancer cells) and in treating autoimmune diseases (in which the immune system attacks the self), such as some kinds of arthritis ...
Immunosuppressive drugs have the potential to cause immunodeficiency, which can increase susceptibility to opportunistic infection and decrease cancer immunosurveillance. [9] Immunosuppressants may be prescribed when a normal immune response is undesirable, such as in autoimmune diseases. [10]
Cancer immunotherapy (immuno-oncotherapy) is the stimulation of the immune system to treat cancer, improving the immune system's natural ability to fight the disease. [1] It is an application of the fundamental research of cancer immunology ( immuno-oncology ) and a growing subspecialty of oncology .
Immunosuppressive drugs can be used to control the immune system with organ transplantation and with autoimmune disease. Immune responses depend on lymphocyte proliferation. Lymphocyte proliferation is the multiplication of lymphocyte cells used to fight and remember foreign invaders. [60]
The decrease in blood cell counts does not occur right at the start of chemotherapy because the drugs do not destroy the cells already in the bloodstream (these are not dividing rapidly). Instead, the drugs affect new blood cells that are being made by the bone marrow. [4] When myelosuppression is severe, it is called myeloablation. [5]
The immune response to cancer can be categorized into the two main categories as discussed above: innate immunity and adaptive immunity. Innate immunity is the first line of defense against cancer. It consists of non-specific immune cells that can recognize and destroy abnormal cells, including cancer cells.
The adaptive immune system evolved in early vertebrates and allows for a stronger immune response as well as immunological memory, where each pathogen is "remembered" by a signature antigen. [55] The adaptive immune response is antigen-specific and requires the recognition of specific "non-self" antigens during a process called antigen ...