Chapter 16. Immunotherapy of Infectious Diseases
1983
Publisher Summary The ability to manipulate the immune response is becoming more of a reality as understanding of the immune system improves. Immunotherapy is defined as the use of either naturally occurring substances or drugs to modify the immune response to a particular antigen. It offers a possible modality to improve the ability to prevent or treat infectious diseases. The past decade has seen a renewed interest in manipulating the immune response to both prevent and treat infections. The manipulation of the immune system by drugs, natural or synthetic products, or derivatives of these products represents an attractive adjunct in the treatment of infections. Many of the experimental foundations for this approach have been laid by the expanding knowledge of endogenous regulators and mediators of lympho-myeloid cooperation and differentiation. Human interferon and specific monoclonal antibodies have been produced in vitro and both have been used or are likely to be used in clinical trials against numerous viruses and pathogenic organisms. The role of these modulatory agents may be three-fold: enhancement of phagocytosis of infectious agents, restoration of impaired immune functions, and treatment of infections without exerting selective pressure on microbial populations that is an inherent problem with antibiotic therapy. This review serves to update the reader on the rationale for immunotherapy and some of the more recent and significant advances in the immunotherapy of infectious disease.
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