Studies on 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin-induced immune suppression and decreased resistance to infection: Endotoxin hypersensitivity, serum zinc concentrations and effect of thymosin treatment

Organochlorine-Associated Immunosuppression in Prefledgling Caspian Terns and Herring Gulls from the Great Lakes: An Ecoepidemiological Study

“…An early study found increased mortality following challenge with duck hepatitis virus in mallard ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos) dosed with PCBs (60). Subsequent laboratory studies showed that HAHs increased susceptibility to bacteria (42,48,61), viruses (26,50,62), and protozoan parasites (26). Several investigators suggested associations between epizootics and elevated organochlorine exposure in beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in the St. Lawrence Estuary (63), California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) on San Miguel Island (64,65), harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) in Europe (66)(67)(68), and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Atlantic Ocean (69).…”

Immunological Effects of Chlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins

“…Studies using both murine and human B cells suggest that TCDD alters the terminal differentiation of B cells into antibody-secreting plasma cells without altering B-cell proliferation (43)(44)(45). The induction of protein kinase activity (46)(47)(48) and altered calcium homeostasis (49) (51,52). A potentially important exception is the reported inhibition of phorbol ester-activated antitumor activity of neutrophils by TCDD (34).…”

Interactions between Infections, Nutrients and Xenobiotics

“…However, there were some discrepancies between studies. For example, two studies reported the resistance to the gram positive bacterium L. monocytogenes to be intact after TCDD exposure (House et al, 1990;Vos et al, 1978), whereas two other studies showed host resistance to be compromised (Hinsdill et al, 1980;Luster et al, 1980). Part of the explanation to conflicting results in these and other early studies may be attributable to different experimental conditions in terms of animal strain and species, type and strain of microorganism, dose and route of administration, and test substance regimen.…”

“…However, other infections have also been used as prototype infections in this area of research. Several recent host resistance studies on TCDD toxicity have employed various strains of influenza virus (House et al, 1990;Kerkvliet, 2002;Mitchell and Lawrence, 2003a;Nohara et al, 2002;Vorderstrasse et al, 2003), as well as bacterial (Dean et al, 1982;Luster et al, 1980;Vos et al, 1978) and parasitic infections (Dean et al, 1982;Luebke et al, 1994). The influenza viruses are RNA viruses of utmost concern among respiratory pathogens, notorious for yearly epidemics associated with excess morbidity and mortality.…”

“…Among bacterial infections S. pneumoniae (Burleson, 2000;Strand et al, 2003), S. aureus (Bishayi and Sengupta, 2003;, and L. monocytogenes (Sugita-Konishi et al, 2003a;Vos et al, 1978) have been used as prototype infections in immunotoxicologic experiments in rodents to assess the effects of nutrients and chemical substances on host resistance. In the host defence to S. pneumoniae several immune defence mechanisms participate.…”