Effects of Antiparasite Chemotherapeutic Agents on Immune Functions

摘要

Components of the immune system and their interactions are often modified by exogenous influences such as chemotherapy administered for a variety of reasons. These modifications may cause suppression or augmentation of one or more of the functional moieties of the defense system. Examples of such immunomodulations are numerous. Most pertinent from the point of view of antiparasitic chemotherapy are effects of quinine and its derivatives, niridazole and levamisole which alter different functions of the immune system. Some drugs are known to be totally immunosuppressive while others may be discretely or selectively inhibitory of certain specialized immunologic reactions. Drugs which are not immunosuppressive or which affect the immune mechanism in a limited way, i.e., without compromising immunologic competence compatible with resistance to infection, are obviously more desirable than drugs which severely compromise resistance. With this in mind, it was deemed necessary to test newly developed agents with antiparasitic potential for their effects on the immune system. Due to limited resources, only a few very basic tests were conducted. These included humoral immune response assayed by antibody plaque forming cell (PFC) technique, delayed hypersensitivity (a function of T cells), and the reticuloendothelial system (RES) function (test for competence of phagocytic cells).