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Immunosuppression is a reduction of the activation or efficacy of the immune system. Some portions of the immune system itself have immunosuppressive effects on other parts of the immune system, and immunosuppression may occur as an adverse reaction to treatment of other conditions.
For medications, the term immunosuppression generally refers to both beneficial and potential adverse effects of decreasing the function of the immune system, while the term immunodeficiency generally refers solely to the adverse effect of increased risk for infection. Many specific diseases directly or indirectly cause immunosuppression.
The immunosuppressive drugs also interact with other medicines and affect their metabolism and action. Actual or suspected immunosuppressive agents can be evaluated in terms of their effects on lymphocyte subpopulations in tissues using immunohistochemistry .
However a long term follow up showed that at both high and low (7.5 mg/kg) doses chronic graft versus host was reduced. [3] A similar trial of anti-lymphocyte globulin showed a trend in reduction of acute graft versus host that was not statistically significant, but a reduction in chronic graft versus host. [ 4 ]
However, many sources use the term to refer to immunotherapy treatments. [ 4 ] [ 3 ] [ 9 ] The explanation for this is that while "biologic" or "biopharmaceutical" refers to the chemical composition of medications which might be used to treat a range of medical conditions, when the term "biologic" became popular, many biologic medications ...
Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system.Immunotherapy is designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies, while immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are classified as suppression immunotherapies.
Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) is a condition seen in some cases of HIV/AIDS or immunosuppression, in which the immune system begins to recover, but then responds to a previously acquired opportunistic infection with an overwhelming inflammatory response that paradoxically makes the symptoms of infection worse.
Azathioprine, sold under the brand name Imuran, among others, is an immunosuppressive medication. [5] It is used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and systemic lupus erythematosus; and in kidney transplants to prevent rejection.