The Pharmacology of Lymphocytes

This volume provides a comprehensive survey of the rationale, techniques and contemporary understanding of those drugs which have significant immunomodulatory activity. Major features of the volume include: an overview of current understanding of the biochemistry of lymphocyte activation, an extensive description of the methodology required for study of lymphocytes and their products; coverage of the interaction between lymphocytes and selected hormones; a synopsis of the current understanding of drugs designed to modify lymphocyte function; and an assessment of the prospects for selecting drugs which might modify the immune response. By presenting immunology as a discipline amenable to investigation by pharmacologists, and in view of the current detailed understanding of molecular mechanisms in immunology, immunotherapy is promised increased attention. This volume summarizes the extent to which such expectations have been fulfilled and allows an assessment of the prospects for progress in lymphocyte pharmacology.

"Immunopharmacology", why not "pharmacoimmunology"? Professor H. O. Schild University College London, 1962 An intact immune response is essential for survival, as is evidenced by the various innate immune deficiency syndromes and by the emergence of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) as a pandemic during the last decade. Substances which stimulate the immune response might contribute to the therapy of AIDS and its precursor, AIDS-related syndrome, as well as of other clinical conditions in which immune responses can be diminished, such as carcinoma and infections. In other circumstances, an intact or heightened immune response may pose clinical problems; hence there is need to suppress, or diminish, components of the immune response. For instance, it is necessary to impair cellular immunity in order to ensure lasting acceptance of heterografts and it is already established that agents effective in transplantation are therapeutically effective in an range of autoimmune diseases. More recently, experimental studies have indicated that aberrant manifestations of humoral immunity, as in allergies, may also be amenable to pharmacological intervention.