Immunotoxicology

Michael I Luster, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
Petia P Simeonova, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
Dori R Germolec, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, North Carolina, USA

Published online: September 2008

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0000955.pub2

Immunotoxicology can be defined as the study of adverse effects on the immune system resulting from exposure to physical factors (e.g. ionizing an ultraviolet radiation), chemicals (including drugs), biological materials, medical devices and, in certain instances, physiological factors, collectively referred to as agents. It encompasses studies of various immune pathologies associated with exposure of humans and wildlife species, including allergy, immune dysregulation (suppression or enhancement), autoimmunity and chronic inflammation.

Keywords: hypersensitivity; allergy; autoimmunity; risk assessment; toxicology; immunodeficiency

 Further Reading
    book Bos JD (ed.) (2005) Skin Immune System: Cutaneous Immunology and Clinical Immunodermatology, 3rd edn. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
    Dietert RR and Piepenbrink MS (2006) Perinatal immunotoxicity: why adult exposure assessment fails to predict risk. Environmental Health Perspectives 114: 477–483.
    book Holladay SD (ed.) (2005) Developmental Immunotoxicology. New York: CRC Press LLC.
    book House R, Luebke R and Kimber I (eds) (2007) Immunotoxicology and Immunopharmacology, 3rd edn, Target Organ Toxicology Series. New York: Raven Press.
    Kimber I and Weisenberger C (1989) A murine local lymph node assay for the identification of contact allergens: assay development and results of initial validation studies. Archives of Toxicology 63: 274–282.
    Luster MI, Portier C, Pait DG et al. (1992) Risk assessment in immunotoxicology I. Sensitivity and predictability of immune tests. Fundamental Applied Toxicology 18: 200–210, and (1993), II. Relationships between immune and host resistance tests. Fundamental Applied Toxicology 21: 71–82.
    book Rollins-Smith LA, Rice CD and Grasman KA (2007) "Amphibian, fish and bird immunotoxicology". In: House R, Luebke R and Kimber I (eds) Immunotoxicology and Immunopharmacology, 3rd edn, Target Organ Toxicology Series. New York: Raven Press.
    book Sarlo K and Baccam M (2007) "Respiratory allergy and occupational asthma". In: House R, Luebke R and Kimber I (eds) Immunotoxicology and Immunopharmacology, 3rd edn, pp. 703–720. New York: Raven Press.
    book Selgrade MJK (2004) "Immune system". In: Hodgson E (ed.) A Textbook of Modern Toxicology, 3rd edn, pp. 327–342. New York: Wiley.
    book Tryphonas H, Fournier M, Blakeley BR, Smits JEG and Brousseau P (eds) (2005) Investigative Immunotoxicology. Boca Raton, FL: Taylor & Francis.
    book World Health Organization (1996) International Program on Chemical Safety: Environmental Health Criteria No. 180: Principles and Methods of Assessing Direct Immunotoxicity Associated with Exposures to Chemicals. Geneva: World Health Organization.
    book World Health Organization (1999) International Program on Chemical Safety: Environmental Health Criteria No. 212: Principles and Methods of Assessing Allergic Hypersensitization Associated with Exposures to Chemicals. Geneva: World Health Organization.
    book World Health Organization (2006) International Program on Chemical Safety: Environmental Health Criteria No. 236: Principles and Methods for Assessing Autoimmunity Associated with Exposures to Chemicals. Geneva: World Health Organization.

Related Sub-Topics:

Infection | Autoimmunity | Immunoregulation | Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Methods | Allergy and Hypersensitivity
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Article Title: Immunotoxicology
 
How to Cite close
Luster, Michael I, Simeonova, Petia P, and Germolec, Dori R(Sep 2008) Immunotoxicology. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0000955.pub2]