Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Sublingual immunotherapy
Allergen desensitization in which the antigen is administered in droplet form under the tongue instead of being injected subcutaneously. SLIT is a relatively safe form of immunotherapy and is often used at home instead of in a medical office, several times a week.
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Stimulation immunotherapy
The therapeutic use of agents that stimulate immune function (immunostimulants). These agents include cytokines and cytokine antagonists, monoclonal antibodies, compounds obtained from bacteria, and hormones from the thymus. The most successful immunostimulants have been laboratory-prepared cytokines, the protein mediators of immune responses. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) are used widely to…
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Rush immunotherapy
Immunotherapy administered rapidly, e.g., over several days (with several injections of antigen daily) or even a single day.
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Passive immunotherapy
The prevention of disease by administering antibodies in the form of a gamma globulin infusion or injection. Preparations enriched with specific antibodies can be used to prevent hepatitis B (HBIG), tetanus (Hyper-Tet), and chickenpox (VZIG).
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Nonspecific immunotherapy
Induction of a general immune response with adjuvants, drugs, or vaccines that stimulate the release of interferons or other immune cytokines. Nonspecific immunotherapy differs from specific immunotherapy in that the agents used (e.g., BCG vaccine, Freund’s adjuvant) do not stimulate antibody production for or against (or tolerance to) individual antigens.
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Antigen-specific immunotherapy
Immunotherapy in which individual antigens are used in gradually increasing concentrations to stimulate an immune response (e.g., against particular allergic diseases or tumors).
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Immunosurveillance
The recognition and destruction of malignant cells by immune cells that travel through and scan the body for foreign or mutant antigens.
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Immunosenescence
The age-associated decline of the immune system and host defense mechanisms. Elderly individuals frequently have a decline in cell-mediated immunity and secondary declines in humoral immunity. The clinician caring for an older patient can assume that the individual has defective host defenses, is at greater risk for developing an infectious disease, and has an increased…
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Immunoselection
The enhanced survival of cells or organisms that have favorable cell surface markers. The antigens allow the cells organisms to escape destruction by humoral or cell-mediated immunity.
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Immunoscintigraphy
The imaging of specific tissues by means of their binding to radioactively labeled monoclonal antibodies; used to detect metastatic cancer. The release of radiation from the antibodies is detected and quantified.
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