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Immunosuppressive (Cytotoxic) and Immunostimulant Drugs

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Pharmacology of the Skin II

Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 87 / 2))

Abstract

Immunological mechanisms play a part in the pathogenesis of many dermatological diseases, but our knowledge of the production of immunological damage is limited, and until the recent introduction of cyclosporin most of the drugs used to modify these processes had an indirect effect on immune responses and inflammation. Thus many immunosuppressant drugs are cytostatic and some also have antiinflammatory effects. The beneficial effect of a drug on an autoimmune disease does not, therefore, necessarily imply that the drug is acting by a specific effect on the immune response. For instance, the cyclooxygenase inhibitor, indomethacin, will prolong survival of skin grafts in the guinea pig (Coppola et al. 1970).

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Authors
  1. P. Goldsmith
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  2. J. L. Burton
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  3. Richard C. D. Staughton
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Institute of Dermatology, St. Thomas’s Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road, SE1 7EH, London, Great Britain

    Malcolm W. Greaves M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.P.

  2. Department of Dermatology, The Royal Victoria Infirmary, The University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4LP, Newcastle upon Tyne, Great Britain

    Sam Shuster M.D., Ph. D., F.R.C.P.

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Goldsmith, P., Burton, J.L., Staughton, R.C.D. (1989). Immunosuppressive (Cytotoxic) and Immunostimulant Drugs. In: Greaves, M.W., Shuster, S. (eds) Pharmacology of the Skin II. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 87 / 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74054-1_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74054-1_24

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74056-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74054-1

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