著者

COHEN Mitchell D.

出版者

日本毒性学会

雑誌

日本毒性学会学術年会

巻号頁・発行日

vol.41, pp.S19-6, 2014

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The Immunotoxicology Specialty Section of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) celebrated its 50^th Anniversary in 2011. At the time the IMTOX SS - as well as the field of Immunotoxicology - was established by its pioneers Drs. Jack Dean, Al Munson, Mike Luster, and Jeff Vos, research focused primarily on gaining an understanding of which occupational/envi- ronmental agents might impact on the immune system and establishing guidelines (i.e., the Tier I/II system) to standardize analyses of these effects. Soon thereafter, with growing numbers of investigators entering the field, the focus of much immunotoxicology research shifted to defining mechanisms of toxicity for these agents. With time and increasing innovations in technology, research into induced alterations of immune cell-cell interactions and changes in immune cell signaling pathways/molecular integrity moved to the forefront. As with many strong research fields, immunotoxicology became a tree with many roots reaching into other areas of scientific study. In part, this was because changes in immune function/components impact on many other organ systems/bio-processes apart from altering host immunocompetence. Novel studies being performed by up-and-coming immunotoxicologists around the world now cross into areas including Developmental, Neurologic, Reproductive, Ocular, and Cardiovascular Toxicology. Indeed, immunotoxicology is also an important aspect of research in the novel fields of Nanotoxicology, Stem Cell Biology, Drug Discovery, and Biotech- nology. Following up on the previous presentations in this forum, this talk will introduce JSOT attendees to some of the investigations being performed by the next generation of Immunotoxicology researchers in the US/Europe.