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ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM: MECHANISMS OF IMMUNOTOXICITY ACROSS PHYLA
Citation:
Luebke, R W. AND D. Germolec. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM: MECHANISMS OF IMMUNOTOXICITY ACROSS PHYLA. Presented at Society of Toxicology, Baltimore, Maryland, March 21-25, 2004.
Description:
Environmental pollution and the immune system: Mechanisms of immunotoxicity across phyla. Bob Luebke and Dori Germolec, US EPA, RTP, NC and NIEHS, RTP, NC
Our current understanding of immunotoxicology comes largely from studies done in rodents or using in vitro systems, as surrogates for potential human effects. However, innate and adaptive immune responses are remarkably similar across a broad range of species: innate immunity, which appeared billions of years ago, is evident at lower levels of biological complexity and adaptive immune responses made an evolutionary appearance 400 million years ago in cartilaginous fish. Recent evidence indicates that plant responses to environmental factors depend on a family of pattern-recognition receptors that are homologous to Toll-like receptors that in animals are critical to both innate and adaptive responses. This phylogenetic conservation of effector mechanisms suggests that a given xenobiotic may cause immunotoxicity in a range of species extending beyond vertebrates. Immunotoxicology studies in plants and wildlife support this concept, with reported adverse effects following exposure to oxidant gases, various hydrocarbons, metals or endocrine disruptors. It is important for mammalian immunotoxicologists to develop an understanding of immune system organization and homeostasis across a broad phylogenetic scale, as well as an appreciation for the effects that similar xenobiotics have on immune system health across species. Field studies of populations in polluted environments, which are unable to escape exposure, provide insight into the risk xenobiotics pose to biologically diverse members of the ecosystem, from plants to mammals. This symposium will address shared and unique features of immune system organization and responses by selected species at diverse levels of biological complexity and immune system sophistication, and the mechanisms whereby selected xenobiotics alter immune function.