Abstract
Developing a battery of immune function assays to screen potential immunotoxic compounds has been a major issue these past years. Combining histopathology of lymphoid organs with several functional tests fosters the detection of an immunosuppressive drug and in addition provides information concerning the nonobservable adverse effect dose, thus fostering the performance of risk assessment. More work is urgently needed to carefully evaluate differences between results obtained in rodents and humans due to the origin of the cells used to perform the immune function assays, to develop more physiological tests, and to quantify the occupational risk linked to immunosuppressive molecules.
The sensitization potential of a drug depends on the activation of specific lymphocyte but the clinical outcome is related to Th1/Th2 differentiation and the “cytokine” background of the individual. Measuring cytokine production in “lymph node assays” will help to assess the potential of pharmaceuticals to produce contact and respiratory allergy.
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