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Different sources of antibodies can provoke different kinds of immune responses. For example, the human immune system can recognize mouse antibodies (also known as murine antibodies) and trigger an immune response against them. This could reduce the effectiveness of the antibodies as a treatment and cause an immune reaction.
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]
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 ...
Mercaptopurine itself can also be administered directly. By preventing the clonal expansion of lymphocytes in the induction phase of the immune response, it affects both the cell and the humoral immunity. It is also efficient in the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
A lower incidence of hypothyroidism was observed in a trial of combined B cell depletion and immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment compared with studies of immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy. [29] This holds promise for combining check point inhibitor therapy with immunosuppressive drugs to achieve anti-cancer effects with less toxicity.
In one approach, vaccines contain whole tumor cells, though these vaccines have been less effective in eliciting immune responses in spontaneous cancer models. Defined tumor antigens decrease the risk of autoimmunity, but because the immune response is directed to a single epitope, tumors can evade destruction through antigen loss variance. A ...
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.
Some drugs can cause a neutralizing immune response, meaning that the immune system produces neutralizing antibodies that counteract the action of the drugs, particularly if the drugs are administered repeatedly, or in larger doses.