Immunopharmacology is the study of drugs that affect the immune system, including immunostimulants and immunosuppressants. It aims to develop new treatments for diseases and increase scientific knowledge. The immune system is complex and diverse, and immunopharmacology targets different categories to produce drugs. Research also focuses on discovering new drug targets by examining the functioning of the immune system.
Immunopharmacology is the intersection of immunology and pharmacology. This medical science and research specialty focuses on drugs that affect the immune system, whether by suppressing, activating, or manipulating it in some way. The best known immunopharmaceutical agents include anti-rejection drugs and vaccines.
The basis of immunopharmacology is the immune system itself, a highly diverse and complex system comprising a very long list of cells, hormones and other chemical signaling molecules. The immune system can be classified in several ways, including innate and adaptive, passive and active, and cellular and antibody response. All these different categories can be targeted by immunopharmacology to produce new treatments and drugs to help cure diseases or simply to increase scientific knowledge in the field.
There are two general classes of immunotherapy drugs. Those that stimulate or activate the immune system are called immunostimulants, while those that suppress the immune system are immunosuppressants. Each class of drugs is useful in certain situations and immune disorders.
Immunostimulants are drugs that can be used to stimulate the immune system. In addition to the drugs themselves, several vitamins, minerals, and other chemicals are known to boost the effectiveness of the immune system. Although immunosuppressive drugs have been studied more extensively than immunostimulants, the latter class of therapeutic agents has thus far shown some promise in the treatment of primary immunodeficiencies and cancers, as well as HIV and AIDS. Vaccines and adjuvants are also classified as immunostimulants.
Another section of immunopharmacology deals with immunosuppressive drugs. These are used to suppress the immune system to prevent organ transplant rejection and to treat autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. In both cases, the immune system itself causes damage to the body and must be actively suppressed using drugs to prevent further damage. New treatments are constantly being evaluated due to the side effects of such drugs. Immunosuppressants are non-specific which means that all immune system activity is suppressed and a person taking such drugs is made extremely vulnerable to all types of infections.
Immunopharmacological research is not limited to the discovery of new drugs. Research is also dedicated to examining the functioning of the immune system in order to discover new drug targets. For example, research examining chemical signaling mechanisms between immune cells could provide one or more therapeutic targets for treatment that interferes with chemical signaling between specific types of immune cells.
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