All Topics  
Immunosuppression

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Immunosuppression
 
 
  Topics Immunosuppression Topic Home

Immunosuppression involves an act that reduces the activation or efficacy
Efficacy

Efficacy is the capacity to produce an effect.It is these conditions that distinguish efficacy from the related concept of effectiveness, which relates to change under real-life conditions....
 of the immune system
Immune system

An immune system is a collection of biological processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumour cells....
. Some portions of the immune system itself have immuno-suppressive effects on other parts of the immune system, and immunosuppression may occur as an adverse reaction to treatment of other conditions. Deliberately induced immunosuppression is generally done to prevent the body from rejecting
Transplant rejection

Transplant rejection occurs when a Organ transplant organ or tissue is not accepted by the body of the transplant recipient. This is explained by the concept that the immune system of the recipient attacks the transplanted organ or tissue....
 an organ transplant
Organ transplant

Organ transplant is the moving of an organ from one body to another , for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or failing organ with a working one from the donor site....
, treating graft-versus-host disease
Graft-versus-host disease

Graft-versus-host disease is a common complication of allogeneic Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in which functional immune cells in the transplanted marrow recognize the recipient as "foreign" and mount an immunologic attack....
 after a bone marrow transplant
Bone marrow transplant

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the transplantation of Pluripotential hemopoietic stem cell derived from the bone marrow or blood. Stem cell transplantation is a medical procedure in the fields of hematology and oncology, most often performed for people with diseases of the blood, bone marrow, or certain types of cancer....
, or for the treatment of auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic disease inflammation that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks the joints producing a inflammatory synovitis that often progresses to destruction of the articular cartilage and ankylosis of the joints....
 or Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease is an inflammatory disease which may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Immunosuppression'
Start a new discussion about 'Immunosuppression'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Immunosuppression involves an act that reduces the activation or efficacy
Efficacy

Efficacy is the capacity to produce an effect.It is these conditions that distinguish efficacy from the related concept of effectiveness, which relates to change under real-life conditions....
 of the immune system
Immune system

An immune system is a collection of biological processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumour cells....
. Some portions of the immune system itself have immuno-suppressive effects on other parts of the immune system, and immunosuppression may occur as an adverse reaction to treatment of other conditions. Deliberately induced immunosuppression is generally done to prevent the body from rejecting
Transplant rejection

Transplant rejection occurs when a Organ transplant organ or tissue is not accepted by the body of the transplant recipient. This is explained by the concept that the immune system of the recipient attacks the transplanted organ or tissue....
 an organ transplant
Organ transplant

Organ transplant is the moving of an organ from one body to another , for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or failing organ with a working one from the donor site....
, treating graft-versus-host disease
Graft-versus-host disease

Graft-versus-host disease is a common complication of allogeneic Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in which functional immune cells in the transplanted marrow recognize the recipient as "foreign" and mount an immunologic attack....
 after a bone marrow transplant
Bone marrow transplant

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the transplantation of Pluripotential hemopoietic stem cell derived from the bone marrow or blood. Stem cell transplantation is a medical procedure in the fields of hematology and oncology, most often performed for people with diseases of the blood, bone marrow, or certain types of cancer....
, or for the treatment of auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic disease inflammation that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks the joints producing a inflammatory synovitis that often progresses to destruction of the articular cartilage and ankylosis of the joints....
 or Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease is an inflammatory disease which may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms....
. This is typically done using drugs, but may involve surgery (splenectomy), plasmapharesis, or radiation.

A person who is undergoing immunosuppression, or whose immune system is weak for other reasons (for example, chemotherapy
Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, refers to treatment of disease by chemicals that kill cells, specifically those of micro-organisms or cancer....
 and HIV
HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that can lead to AIDS , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections....
 patients) is said to be immunocompromised. When an organ
Organ (anatomy)

In biology, an organ is a biological tissue that performs a specific function or group of functions. Usually there is a main tissue and sporadic tissues....
 is transplanted, the immune system of the recipient will most likely recognize it as foreign tissue and attack it. The destruction of the organ will, if untreated, end in the death of the recipient.

In the past, radiation therapy
Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy is the medicine use of ionizing radiation as part of cancer oncology to control malignant cell s . Radiotherapy may be used for curative or Adjuvant chemotherapy cancer treatment....
 was used to decrease the strength of the immune system, but now immunosuppressant drugs
Immunosuppressive drug

Immunosuppressive drugs or immunosuppressive agents are medication that inhibit or prevent activity of the immune system. They are used in immunosuppression to:...
 are used to inhibit the reaction of the immune system. The downside is that with such a deactivated immune system, the body is very vulnerable to opportunistic infection
Opportunistic infection

An opportunistic infection is an infection caused by pathogens that usually do not cause disease in a healthy immune system. A Immunodeficiency, however, presents an "opportunity" for the pathogen to infect....
s, even those usually considered harmless. Also, prolonged use of immunosuppressants increases the risk of cancer
Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
.

Cortisone
Cortisone

Cortisone is a steroid hormone. Chemically, it is a corticosteroid closely related to corticosterone....
 was the first immunosuppressant identified, but its wide range of side effects limited its use. The more specific azathioprine
Azathioprine

Azathioprine is an immunosuppressant used in organ transplantation, autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis and pemphigus or inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis as well as multiple sclerosis....
 was identified in 1959, but it was the discovery of cyclosporine
Ciclosporin

Ciclosporin , cyclosporine or cyclosporin , is an immunosuppressant medication widely used in Allograft organ transplant to reduce the activity of the patient's immune system and so the risk of organ Transplant rejection....
 in 1970 that allowed for significant expansion of kidney transplantation
Kidney transplantation

Kidney transplantation or renal transplantation is the organ transplant of a kidney in a patient with end-stage renal disease. Kidney transplantation is typically classified as deceased-donor or living-donor transplantation depending on the source of the recipient organ....
 to less well-matched donor-recipient pairs as well as broad application of liver transplantation
Liver transplantation

Liver transplantation or hepatic transplantation is the replacement of a diseased liver with a healthy liver allograft. The most commonly used technique is orthotopic transplantation, in which the native liver is removed and the donor organ is placed in the same anatomic location as the original liver....
, lung transplantation
Lung transplantation

Lung transplantation is a surgical procedure in which a patient's diseased lungs are partially or totally replaced by lungs which come from a donor....
, pancreas transplantation
Pancreas transplantation

A pancreas transplant is an organ transplant that involves implanting a healthy pancreas into a person who usually has diabetes. Because the pancreas is a vital organ, performing functions necessary in the digestion process, the recipient's native pancreas is left in place, and the donated pancreas is attached in a different location....
, and heart transplantation
Heart transplantation

HistoryThe first heart transplant involving a human was carried out by a team led by Dr James D Hardy on the of 23 of January 1964 at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, when the heart of a chimpanzee was transplanted into the chest of a dying man....
.

Dr. Joseph Murray
Joseph Murray

Joseph E. Murray , United States of America surgeon, performed the first successful human Organ transplant from an adult to his identical twin....
 of Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University and currently the #1 medical school in America, as ranked by U.S. News and World Report....
 and chief plastic surgeon at Children's Hospital Boston
Children's Hospital Boston

Children's Hospital Boston is a children's hospital located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area of Boston, Massachusetts.Located at 300 Longwood Avenue, Children's is adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical School, and to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute....
 from 1972-1985 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institutet. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Physiology or Medic...
 in 1990 for his work on immunosuppression. Dr. Murray and his team are credited with first successful human kidney transplant at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital
Brigham and Women's Hospital

Brigham and Women's Hospital is the largest hospital of Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Boston, Massachusetts and is directly adjacent to Harvard Medical School of which it is the second largest Teaching hospital....
, Boston on 23 December 1954.

See also

  • Immunosuppressant
    Immunosuppressant

    An immunosuppressant is a substance that performs immunosuppression of the immune system. They may either be exogenous, as immunosuppressive drugs, or endogenous, as e....
     substance
    • Immunosuppressive drug
      Immunosuppressive drug

      Immunosuppressive drugs or immunosuppressive agents are medication that inhibit or prevent activity of the immune system. They are used in immunosuppression to:...
  • Transplant rejection
    Transplant rejection

    Transplant rejection occurs when a Organ transplant organ or tissue is not accepted by the body of the transplant recipient. This is explained by the concept that the immune system of the recipient attacks the transplanted organ or tissue....