Immunopharmacology as a field of scientific endeavor had its origins more than thirty years ago in the application of antibody-based techniques to assays of hormones and drugs in tissues and body fluids. More recently, the field has been redefined to include a primary focus on the immune system as a target of xenobiotic action. Advances in the field of immunology have made it apparent that the immune system, like other organ systems, declines in its function as a result of aging, viral infections like AIDS, and other immunotoxic influences, giving rise to secondary immunodeficiency. Deficiencyof the immune system in turn leads to infections, autoimmune diseases, and an increased incidence of certain cancers. The notion of treating the failing immune system is relatively new; however, more than a decade of research on cancer and AIDS has created the burgeoning new clinical field of immunotherapy. Immunopharmacology then stands as the preclinical and clinical science of immune manipulation. As such, like its parent field of pharmacology, it includes within its scope basic studies of immune mechanisms as they relate to the pathogenesis of inflammation and immunologic disturbances. As with pharma cology, the perspective is always a therapeutic one. Studies of immune and inflammatory processes emphasize the use of pharmacologic probes and drugs to elucidate the underlying biochemical pharmacology.

'A thoroughly enjoyable and very useful work. As the editors say in their preface, 'we have intended these reviews to be the best by the best'-they make this point very convincingly.' -ASM News, from a review of Volume 1 This series continues to present the most current findings in the field of immune manipulation. Here, twelve chapters provide detailed coverage of cancer, microbial, and allergy immunopharmacology as well as autoimmunity and neuroimmunomodulation.

During the past decades, with the introduction of the recombinant DNA, hybridoma and transgenic technologies there has been an exponential evolution in understanding the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of a large number of human diseases. The technologies are evident with the development of cytokines and monoclonal antibodies as therapeutic agents and the techniques used in gene therapy. Immunopharmacology is that area of biomedical sciences where immunology, pharmacology and pathology overlap. It concerns the pharmacological approach to the immune response in physiological as well as pathological events. This goals and objectives of this textbook are to emphasize the developments in immunology and pharmacology as they relate to the modulation of immune response. The information includes the pharmacology of cytokines, monoclonal antibodies, mechanism of action of immune-suppressive agents and their relevance in tissue transplantation, therapeutic strategies for the treatment of AIDS and the techniques employed in gene therapy. The book is intended for health care professional students and graduate students in pharmacology and immunology.

Continuing the tradition set by the first and second editions, each a bestseller in its own right, the third edition of Immunotoxicology and Immunopharmacology provides reviews of environmental agents, updated to reflect the latest information on how these agents influence immune system function and health. For the first time in the book's history,

A comprehensive overview of the current research on inflammation and immunopharmacology, with particular attention to the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, this book discusses future trends in this area of pharmacological research. It addresses an audience with basic knowledge in the inflammatory process, immune system and pharmacology. The book meets the needs of graduate students, junior and senior researchers and is useful as a source of the most current information for those already working in these fields.