The book summarises the current understanding of the Nervous -, Endocrine and Immune systems with emphasis on shared mediators and receptors and functional interaction. In addition to the fundamental physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms, which are presented in detail, some clinically relevant subjects are also presented, such as inflammation, asthma and allergy, autoimmune disease, immunodeficiency and the acute phase response.

- A comprehensive presentation of neuroimmune biology
- Introduces the subject matter to the uninformed reader
- Contains basic information, theoretical considerations and up-to-date clinical chapters
- The clinical chapters will be helpful to practising physicians

The topic of biological response modifiers has attracted the attention of many biomedical investigators, including immunologists, oncologists, pharmacologists, microbiologists, and biochemists, as well as clinical practitioners of medicine. This has occurred mainly because of the realization that the complex system of cellular and humoral interactions culminating in a productive immune response is under exquisite regulatory control for normal immune responses and that loss of control may markedly influence the capability of a host to respond in a productive manner to the numerous immunologic "insults" encountered in the environment. Furthermore, biological response modification is considered by many to be a natural offshoot of the relatively new application of "immunotherapy" to cancer. It is widely recognized that "immunotherapy" was practiced at the end of the last century and the beginning of this century when it was recognized that microbial infections were caused by distinct species of bacteria and that passive administration of serum con taining antibody to these microbes or their products could, in many cases, favorably influence the outcome of an infectious process."

This publication, "Viruses, Immunity and Immunodeficiency," is based on the first symposium in a series of International Biomedical Symposia sponsored by the College of Medicine of the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. There is an explosive interest concerning the effects of viruses on the immune response, especially the immunosuppressive effects of viral infection. This has come about because of the recognition that the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, which has taken biomedical scientists and the public in general by surprise, is just one of the many examples that viruses can influence the immune response system and, under appropriate circumstances, alter immunity in such a way that an infected individual becomes hi lly susceptible to a variety of other organisms to which normal individuals would be resistant. This symposium series, sponsored by the University of South Florida College of Medicine, brings to the biomedical con(r)unity topics of current interest. We thank the members of the faculty of various departments of the College of Medicine and the administration of the College for their support and encouragement in having these symposiaat this medical school. This volume, based or. this symposium onviruses and immunity is a good exam ple of the interdisciplinary nature of modern irrJ 1I1nobiology and modern biomedical science in general. Many investigators with many different back grounds and training experiences, including microbiologists, immunologists, biochemists, oncologists, and physicians, are interested in how and why viruses influence the immune response system."

This book contains 32 chapters based on the corresponding papers delivered at the International Symposium on Antimicrobial Agents and Immunity, held in Siena, Italy on May 2-4, 1985 as a Satellite Symposium of the Third International Conference on Immunopharmacology, held in Florence, Italy on May 6-10, 1985. As editors we express our profound appreciation and gratitude to the authors who have contributed so richly to this volume, and we think that it may not be too much to hope that a new cadre of investigators and students will share this gratitude for these records of experience and insight into antibiotic and host-parasite interactions. We owe a very special gratitude to Mrs. Christine Abarca for her outstanding editorial assistance in the preparation of this book. Andor Szentivanyi, M.D. University Distinguished Professor Departments of Pharmacology and Internal Medicine University of South Florida College of Medicine Tampa, Florida Herman Friedman, Ph.D. Professor and Chairman Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology University of South Florida College of Medicine Tampa, Florida Gunther Gillissen, M.D., Ph.D. Professor and Chairman Department of Medical Microbiology Faculty of Medicine RWTH, Aachen, F.R.G.