Drug abuse is a global problem of considerable concern to health. One such health concern stems from the fact that many drugs of abuse have immunosuppressive actions and consequently have the potential to increase susceptibility to infectious disease. This article is focused on the impact of the amphetamine derivative, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; 'Ecstasy') on immunity. Research conduc...

Four classes of immunosuppressive drugs have been used to treat human autoimmune diseases: corticosteroids, alkylating agents (cyclophosphamide and chlorambucil), antimetabolites (azathioprine and methotrexate) and more recently, cydosporine A (CsA). Before the advent of CsA, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the therapy of organ allograft rejection in 1983, th...

BOXED WARNING Only physicians experienced in immunosuppressive therapy and management of organ transplant patients should prescribe cyclosporine. Patients receiving the drug should be managed in facilities equipped and staffed with adequate laboratory and supportive medical resources. The physician responsible for maintenance therapy should have complete information requisite for the follow-up ...

Disseminated scedosporiosis is rare in dogs and is usually reported in German Shepherds with suspected heritable immunodeficiency. This is the first report of disseminated scedosporiosis due to Scedosporium prolificans in a Labrador retriever dog that was receiving immunosuppressive drug therapy for treatment of immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia. Despite cessation of immunosuppressive medicati...

Only physicians experienced in management of systemic immunosuppressive therapy for the indicated disease should prescribe Cyclosporine Capsules USP (Modified). At doses used in solid organ transplantation, only physicians experienced in immunosuppressive therapy and management of organ transplant recipients should prescribe Cyclosporine Capsules USP (Modified). Patients receiving the drug shou...

Background: Nowadays the main problem in transplantation is the complexity of host immune system protection against the immunological and destructive reactions of the transplanted organ. High serum level of the immunosuppressive drug may cause toxicity and low serum level leads to the rejection of the transplanted organ. Cyclosporine has been known as the most effective immunosuppressive drug. ...

we have studied the effect of amitriptyline, a tricyclic anti-depressant drug on several immune parameters of the balb/c mice in order to evaluate its immunomodulatory effects. results showed that amitriptyline will potentiates all of the immunocytes functions except for the production of pge2 by lps stimulated monocytes. we have also showed that amitriptyline can normalize the immunosuppressiv...

Reactivation of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) can cause severe liver injury resulting in jaundice, liver failure, and death.1 This outcome continues to occur in patients receiving immunosuppressive drug therapy (ISDT) despite the ability to identify persons at risk with readily available and inexpensive blood tests for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (...

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who present with skin disease pose the clinician with diagnostic challenges. The skin disease can reflect an increase in systemic disease activity suggested by other features of active lupus and, as such, usually responds well to more aggressive immunosuppressive therapy. Other possibilities of skin disease include drug eruptions, skin disease un...

BACKGROUND Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is an immunosuppressive drug widely used in solid organ transplantation, and it may play an increasing role in autoimmune disease. MMF has been introduced as a novel immunosuppressive agent in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), often in patients intolerant of or resistant to conventional immunosuppressive regimens. METHODS We studied 21 patients with SL...