IMMUNOLOGY - Roitt A. - Mir 2000

Chapter 19. Vaccination

NON-SPECIFIC IMMUNOTHERAPY

Many of the substances used as vaccine adjuvants are also employed on their own to stimulate general immune reactivity (Fig. 19.18). The best results in this regard are achieved not by traditional immunoadjuvants, but by cytokines, among which interferon-alpha (IFNα) is most widely used, primarily due to its antiviral and antitumor activity (see below and Chapter 20). The most pronounced clinical effect appears to have been obtained with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) to restore Bone Marrow hematopoiesis following cytotoxic Chemotherapy, resulting in the normalization of Blood Coagulation and anti-infection resistance.

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Fig. 19.18. Antigen-non-specific stimulation or suppression of The activity of individual Components of the immune system can sometimes yield a positive clinical effect.

It has also been proposed to use inhibitors of cytokine activity for the Treatment of severe or chronic Inflammatory Diseases. Various approaches to inactivating tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) have shown positive results in the treatment of rheumatoid Arthritis and (with less definitive outcomes) Gram-negative bacterial septic Shock, as well as severe malaria. It is to be hoped that in the next few years the clinical pharmacology of CYTOKINES AND THEIR inhibitors will advance to the point where it becomes realistically possible to harness The properties of these immune system signaling molecules as purposefully as lymphocyte properties are used in vaccination.