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immunoincompetence 378 immunologic enhancement (tumor enhancement)
Engraved title page from G.A. Mercklin’s Tractatio Med. Curiosa de Ortu
et Sanguinis (1679). This is one of the best early depictions of blood transfusion.
(Courtesy of the Cruse Collection, Middleton Library, University
of Wisconsin, Madison.)
identified by immunoperoxidase technology that are used
in diagnosis.
immunoincompetence
Inability to produce a physiologic immune response.
For example, patients with acquired immune deficiency
syndrome (AIDS) become immunoincompetent as a
consequence of destruction of their helper/inducer (CD4 + )
T lymphocyte population. Infants born without thymus
glands and experimental animals thymectomized at birth
are immunologically incompetent. Children born with
severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) due to one or
several causes are unable to mount appropriate immune
responses. Immunoincompetence may involve either the
B cell limb as in Bruton’s hypogammaglobulinemia or the
T cell limb as in patients with DiGeorge’s syndrome.
immunoinformatics
A subset of bioinformatics focusing on the field of immunology.
Immunoinformatics applications are of increasing
significance to immunological research. The major
findings of structural, functional, and regulatory aspects of
molecular immunology, coupled with rapid accumulation of
immunological data, have been complemented by the development
of more sophisticated computational solutions for
immunological research. Immunology is a combinatorial
science. The immune system is intertwined with all other
body systems. Bioinformatics applications are well developed
for some immunological areas, including databases,
genomic applications, study of T cell epitopes, modeling
immune systems and, to a lesser degree, the analysis of
allergenicity of proteins. Also called computational immunology;
includes theoretical immunology.
immunoinhibitory genes
Selected human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes that appear
to protect against immunological diseases. Their mechanisms
of action are in dispute.
immunoisolation
The enclosure of allogeneic tissues, such as pancreatic islet
cell allografts, within a membrane that is semipermeable
but does not induce an immune response. Substances of
relatively low molecular weight can reach the graft through
the membrane, while it remains protected from immunologic
rejection by the host.
immunologic (or immunological)
Aspects of a subject that fall under the purview of the scientific
discipline of immunology.
immunologic adjuvant
A substance that enhances an immune response, either
humoral or cellular, or both, to an immunogen (antigen).
immunologic barrier
An anatomical site that diminishes or protects against
immune response. Term refers principally to immunologically
privileged sites where grafts of tissue may survive for
prolonged periods without undergoing immunologic rejection,
based mainly on the lack of adequate lymphatic drainage
in these areas. Examples include prolonged survival of
foreign grafts in the brain.
immunologic colitis
An ulcerative condition that may involve the entire colon but
does not significantly affect the small intestine. Neutrophil,
plasma cell eosinophil infiltration of the colonic mucosa
occurs, followed by ulceration of the surface epithelium, loss
of goblet cells, and formation of crypt abscess. The etiology
is unknown. An immune effector mechanism is believed
to maintain chronic disease in these patients whose serum
immunoglobulins and peripheral blood lymphocyte counts
usually are normal. Complexes present in the blood are relatively
small and contain immunoglobulin G (IgG), although
no antigen has been identified. The complexes may be merely
aggregates of IgG. Patients have diarrhea with blood and
mucus in stools. The signs and symptoms are intermittent,
and the severity of colon lesions varies. The lymphocytes
are cytotoxic for colon epithelial cells. Antibodies against
Escherichia coli may cross react with colonic in these
patients; however, whether such antibodies play a role in
etiology and pathogenesis remains to be proven.
immunologic competence
The capability to mount an immune response.
immunologic enhancement (tumor enhancement)
The prolonged survival, and conversely the delayed rejection,
of a tumor allograft in a host as a consequence of
contact with a specific antibody. Antitumor antibodies
may produce paradoxical effects. Instead of eradicating a
neoplasm, they may facilitate its survival and progressive
growth in the host. Both peripheral and central mechanisms
have been postulated. Coating of tumor cells with antibody
was presumed in the past to interfere with the ability
of specifically reactive lymphocytes to destroy them, but
a central effect in suppressing cell-mediated immunity,
perhaps through suppressor T lymphocytes, is also possible.
Enhancing antibodies are blocking antibodies that favor
survival of tumor or normal tissue allografts.