Immunotherapy

Immunotherapies are forms of treatment that affect the immune system . Depending on the disease, modulating ( stimulating and suppressing ) or substituting (replacing) methods are used.

Stimulating procedures

• active vaccination and
• the administration of immunostimulants to activate a weakened immune system as part of an active non-specific immunotherapy for tumor diseases (see main article cancer immunotherapy )

Suppressive procedures (administration of immunosuppressants )

• in autoimmune diseases ,
• after organ transplantation ,
• for allergies ( anaphylaxis ) and

Substituting procedures

• passive vaccination with immunoglobulins (tetanus, botulism, rhesus incompatibility and much more)
• Administration of immunoglobulins in the event of an acquired or congenital deficiency of immunoglobulins (so-called immunoglobulin deficiency with the resulting susceptibility to infection)

Administration of monoclonal antibodies in

• • Crohn's disease ( infliximab ),
  • PTCA (platelet aggregation inhibitor abciximab ) or
  • Specific immunotherapies for tumor diseases, when the antibodies are combined with toxins (e.g. saporin ) called immunotoxins .

Modulating procedures

• Desensitization for allergies
• Immune adsorption to remove autoantibodies and immune complexes in autoimmune diseases or antibody-mediated transplant rejection

Web links

Wiktionary: Immunotherapy  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

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• Roche Lexicon Medicine [Electronic Resource] 5th edition; Elsevier GmbH, Urban & Fischer Verlag; Munich / Jena 2003; ISBN 3-437-15072-3 ; Online version Keyword: immunotherapy