Introduction to Immunotoxicology

This text provides a concise and comprehensive introduction to key immunotoxicological issues for all those interested in, but with no prior knowledge of, this area of toxicology. The first section explores the health consequences of immunotoxicity, namely the adverse effects related to chemically-induced immunosuppression and immunostimulation, hypersensitivity reactions and autoimmune diseases, with an overview of major immunotoxicants. The second part describes the latest methods used to detect and evaluate, preclinically and clinically, the unexpected immunotoxic effects of xenobiotics. Trends in implementing strategies and recent changes to the regulatory aspects are also considered. The third section examines possible future developments, including In Vitro methods, biomarkers of immunotixicity and risk assessment.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Nancy I. Kerkvliet, PhD(Oregon State University)
Description:This is the first published book that has attempted to provide a primer on the field of immunotoxicology, a relatively new subdiscipline of toxicology that studies the adverse effects of chemical interactions with the immune system.
Purpose:This book is an attempt to show that immunotoxicology is no different from any other subdiscipline of toxicology and therefore amenable to understanding by any toxicologist. This is a worthy objective as many toxicologists remain "put off" by immunology and therefore do not appreciate the contributions that immunotoxicology makes to understanding the overall health risks and mechanisms of action of xenobiotics.
Audience:The book is written primarily for students and toxicologists with no prior experience or expertise in immunotoxicology. However, I think a toxicologist or toxicology student would have a difficult time reading this book and coming away with a good understanding of the field. I also think it would be difficult to use this book as a text to teach immunotoxicology to graduate students because of the superficial treatment of many of the topic areas.
Features:This text is short on factual material (in some chapters, especially Chapter 7, the most topical chapter, there is not much more information than one might find in an expanded outline). It is divided into three sections: health consequences of immunotoxicity; methods; and "newer aspects" of the field. Each section has several chapters associated with it. Based on the outline, the field is covered thoroughly and adequately. However, based on the text itself, many of the topics are covered in a very superficial manner. In other places, the text is confusing and fails to clearly convey the point of the discussion. Some of the problems with the text emanate from a poor style of writing that could have benefited from closer editorial input. In many places the author uses a lot of words that say very little or say it in a confusing manner. There are many run-on sentences that are very hard to follow. Another stylistic complaint is the author's overuse of qualifiers (sentences that start with 'Nevertheless' or 'However'.) The overuse of such qualifiers will likely confuse the inexperienced reader and also make it difficult to draw any conclusions about the topic being presented. Overall, the text is short on details, contains many inaccurate generalities, and cites too many outdated references. The figures are also few in number and poor in quality.
Assessment:This is the first book that attempts to summarize the field of immunotoxicology for the general toxicologist or the toxicology student. Thus, the author is to be commended for attempting this formidable task. The clinical background of the author is apparent as the clinical and basic immunology chapters are written the best. On the other hand, the toxicology of the book is weak. The discussion of basic immunotoxicants is very superficial, certain conclusions are drawn that are not factual, and many of the references are inappropriate or outdated. This book fails to convey a "take-home" message for the reader.