Therapeutic Immunology, Introduction to Therapeutic Immunology, Edward Jenner: Vaccination

Therapeutic Immunology, Introduction to Therapeutic Immunology, Vaccination Successes

Therapeutic Immunology, Introduction to Therapeutic Immunology, Therapeutic Immunology: Immunodiagnostics and Immunotherapy 

Therapeutic Immunology, Introduction to Therapeutic Immunology, Immunotherapy

Therapeutic Immunology, Introduction to Therapeutic Immunology, Traditional Immunosuppressive Agents

Therapeutic Immunology, Introduction to Therapeutic Immunology, Limitations of Traditional Immunosuppressive Drugs

Therapeutic Immunology, Introduction to Therapeutic Immunology, Biologic therapies

Therapeutic Immunology, Introduction to Therapeutic Immunology,Categories of Biologic Therapy

Ever since 1796, when Edward Jenner discovered the smallpox vaccine:

• Researchers have sought to harness the body’s natural ability to fight disease.

One of the success stories in public health has been:

• The development of vaccines, which have reduced preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low.

Public policies of vaccination have led to:

• The eradication of small pox 
• The near elimination of polio. 

New vaccines are showing promise of eliminating many more diseases.

Researchers have developed new approaches that manipulate immune functions beyond vaccination, for a wide range of medical uses:

• Treating autoimmune disorders and cancer
• Detecting, diagnosing, and monitoring disease

These various applications of the immune response can be generally referred to as immunotherapy and immunodiagnostics.

Immunotherapy: Medical treatment involving the use of immune cells or their products to fight infection and disease.

• Suppression of unwanted responses 
• Stimulation of protective responses 
• Modifications of the immune response

Immunotherapy: Targeting

• Traditional immunosuppressive therapies (less targeted)
• Biologic therapies (more highly targeted)

Traditional immunosuppressive agents:

• Corticosteroids
• Cytotoxic agents
• Fungal/bacterial derivatives

Limitations of traditional immunosuppressive drugs:

• Infection
• Malignancy
• Nephrotoxicity
• Hepatotoxicity
• Bone marrow suppression
• Endocrine dysfunction

Attention has turned to the development of biologic therapies that use the body's natural immune functions to fight infection and disease or to protect the body from side effects of treatment.

Biologic therapies:

• Biologic response modifiers (BRMs)
• Recombinant technology (e.g., bioengineered drug products)
• Includes: antibodies, cytokines, and protein fragments
• Applications: transplant rejection, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory conditions, cancer, immunodiagnostics…

Categories of biologic therapy:

• Molecular structure or composition
  • Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs)
  • Fusion proteins
• Mechanism of action
  • Cytokine receptor therapies
  • Soluble receptor therapies

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Briggs JD. Immunol Lett. 1991: 29(1-2):89-94 Page 89. 

Molecular Mechanisms of Immunosuppressive Drugs and Their Importance in Optimal Clinical Outcomes (added) Medscape Today

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IgG = Immunoglobulin-G

TNF-α = Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha