The Immune System and Immune Modulation

This chapter outlines some general rules governing the immune response. It provides an overviews on communication within the immune system and between the immune system and other communication systems. Therapeutic immune modulation also aims at influencing one of the several different levels of immune regulation. Cytokines influence the quantitative, as well as the qualitative, outcome of the immune response. The cytokine system provides an important area of possible interventions on the immune system. A growing number of reports are dealing with the ability of immune cells to respond to neurotransmitters, as well as to hormones. Gene therapy has also been successfully applied to the prevention of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. The outcome of an immune response depends on the availability of cognate signals as well as on the context of such cognate signals, namely, the simultaneous delivery of nonspecific contact-dependent or factor-mediated signals.