Molecular Immunotoxicology

The human immune system is constantly exposed to chemical contaminants, whether from food, water or air. Some chemicals directly elicit an immune response, while others indirectly activate or deactivate components within the immune system. Thus when tracking or predicting the effect of a chemical on the immune system, many different pathways and modes of action need to be considered. Following an introduction to the various pathways and toxicity mechanisms from a systemic perspective, the main part of this comprehensive reference surveys individual molecular mechanisms of important immunotoxicants, from PAHs to biopharmaceuticals, and from receptor-mediated toxicity to nanoparticle toxicity, using analyses based on molecular effects rather than on animal models. Taken together, the knowledge presented here provides an up-to-date overview of this hot topic that can be directly applied to the prediction and characterization of immunotoxic effects in drugs, chemicals, and environmental contaminants.

This authored book presents basic immunological tenets and mechanisms at the cellular and molecular level while employing the toxicology focus on hazard identification, appropriate assays, dose response, and risk assesment by mathematical models and safety factors. It will be a useful reference to toxicologists because it will incorporate new guidelines that the EPA is bringing out later this year for all chemicals regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act. Regulatory sections in each chapter focus on data from both the US Food and Drug Administration, as well as data applicable to western European Nations.

Investigative Immunotoxicology provides a critical evaluation of proposed experimental animal models and approaches, and discusses the contribution that immunotoxicity can make to the overall assessment of chemical-induced adverse health effects on humans and the ecosystem. Following a review of general concepts in immunotoxicology, the book discus

Continuing the tradition set by the first and second editions, each a bestseller in its own right, the third edition of Immunotoxicology and Immunopharmacology provides reviews of environmental agents, updated to reflect the latest information on how these agents influence immune system function and health. For the first time in the book's history,

Chronic diseases are the leading cause of deaths worldwide and according to the World Economics Council and the Harvard School of Public Health, the cost of chronic diseases is expected to reach a staggering 48% of global gross domestic product by the year 2030. The urgency of the issue was demonstrated in 2011 when for only the second time in its existence, the U.N. General Assembly brought a health issue to the floor for consideration: chronic diseases. To date, most considerations of the issue have approached the topic from the vantage point that chronic diseases are a myriad of largely unconnected diseases and conditions arising in diverse tissues, organs and physiological systems. This book, Immunotoxicity, Immune Dysfuction, and Chronic Disease, deviates from that prior model. It considers the interconnectivity of chronic diseases with both environmental insult of the immune system and subsequent immune dysfunction and inflammatory dysregulation as the underlying basis for many, if not most, chronic diseases. This change in the perception of environment-immune linkages to chronic disease is significant and has immediate implications both for the prevention of disease as well as for the development of more effective therapeutic approaches. Rather than considering environmental factors and types of reported immune alterations (e.g., depressed humoral immunity) as is common in books involving immunotoxicity, the present book approaches the environment-immune-disease triad from the standpoint of the disease. Each chapter emphasizes one or more specific immune dysfunction-based chronic disease(s) or condition(s) (e.g., asthma, atherosclerosis, multiple sclerosis, lupus) and describes: 1) the suggested environmental risk factors, 2) the underlying immune dysfunction(s) associated with the disease and 3) the overall health consequences of the disease. This book is an early entry for a new Toxicology book series for Springer titled: Molecular and Integrative Toxicology (MaIT). The series will feature detailed research information, but in the context of a more integrative or holistic framework. As part of this framework, the chapters will contain a section on ”Key Points” as well as “Recommendations” where appropriate. The goal is to cover the most timely, state-of-the-art issues in toxicology as well as to ensure that the information is maximally accessible for research scientists, teachers, physicians and students. We are particularly grateful to the numerous chapter authors for providing comprehensive and expert disease-oriented contributions. We are also appreciative of their willingness to consider their material not as disparate pieces of what has become a major health crisis, but rather as key pieces in a network of apparently interconnected health challenges.

Recent critical advances in the field of immunotoxicology have led to incredible contributions to basic science, including crucial improvements in human risk assessment. In Immunotoxicity Testing: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers explore these changes, providing the reader with current, lab-ready procedures, along with the corresponding background information that is necessary to identify effective testing approaches for chemicals and drugs. Among the first volumes to meld consideration of immunotoxicity testing strategies with a comprehensive presentation of detailed laboratory protocols, chapters include a description of the evolution of immunotoxicity testing, a look at the importance of immunotoxicity testing for health risk reduction, and ideas concerning the future of the field. Composed in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology(tm) series format, most chapters contain a brief introduction, step-by-step methods, a list of necessary materials, and a Notes section which shares tips from the experts on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and innovative, Immunotoxicity Testing: Methods and Protocols is a critical, one-stop reference resource for the most important and commonly used laboratory protocols in immunotoxicology.

IX The International Seminar on the Immunological System as a Target for Toxic Damage was held at The Commission of the European Communities (CEC) in Luxembourg on 6-9 November 1984. It was organized by the CEC and the International Programme on Chemical Safety of UNEP/ILO/WHO with the support of the u. S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences - USA and with the participation of the International Society of Immunophar macology. These bodies are actively concerned with the scientific and applied aspects of immunotoxicology. The Seminar consisted of thirty-four invited papers and three major panel discussions covering current and future test strategies for the screening of immunotoxic substances, hypersensitivity and the health implications of immunotoxico logical problems. It was attended by more than 200 scien tists from 27 countries representing all the Member states of the European Economic Community and the six Regions of the World Health Organization. These scientists represented many different disciplines and interests. The Seminar's principal objectives were: a review of recent advances in knowledge concerning the structure, function and dysfunction of the immunological system; - a review of the effects of xenobiotics on the immune system in animals and humans; an examination of the human health implications of immunotoxicity; discussion and critical analysis of the procedures for the assessment of immunological damage, a discussion of needs for the further development of laboratory and epidemiological methods and their validation, and a consideration of current test strategies.

This is a review of clinical adverse effects on the human immune system that may occur following drug treatments and chemcical exposures. Current and prospective models and assays that can be used to predict these adverse effects in animal toxicity studies or in human beings are described.