Immunoregulation is one of the areas which has witnessed the most explosive advances of immunology during the past decade. It is in this area that the current view of the immune system has arisen and developed. There is indeed little doubt that immune reactions are primarily determined by messages which are genera ted within the immune system and passed among different types of immunologie cells. This cell communication not only determines the type, intensity and duration of the response after perturbation of the immune system by exogenous antigens, but it is also essential for preventing autoimmune reactions and their clinical conse quences. In order to assure aperfect balance within the enormous com plexity of the immune system, it is not surprising that multiple self-regulatory mechanisms are organized at different levels, such as antibody feedback, idiotypic-anti-idiotypic responses, suppres sor and helper T cells, lymphokine signals and genetic require ments. A nu mb er of observations in recent years have, however, demonstrated that consistent contributions to the immunological homeostasis are given also by signals generated outside of the immune system, namely,in the central and autonomous nervous system as weIl as in the endocrine apparatus. Furthermore, the interactions between the immune system and the other body homestatic mechanisms seem to be bidirectional: if immunological cells may be targets of neuroendocrinological factors, immunological products seem in turn to contribute to the neuro endocrine homeostasis. Front Matter....Pages i-ix IgV H and MHC-Restricted Regulatory Circuit in the Immune Response....Pages 1-11 Subpopulations of Human Lymphocytes and their Alterations in Immunodeficiency Diseases....Pages 13-24 T-Cell Independent Activation of Human B Cells by Anti-Ig Antibodies and Protein A-Containing Staphylococci....Pages 25-33 The Rise and Fall of the Antigen Bridge....Pages 35-43 Primate Helper Factors: Comment on the ‘Antigen Bridge’....Pages 45-48 Immunoregulation of “In Vitro” Antibody Response to Azobenzenearsonate (ABA)-Proteins....Pages 49-56 Is the Immune System a Functional Idiotypic Network?....Pages 57-67 Systemic Network Regulation Hypothesis: Some Experimental Evidence....Pages 69-92 Antigen Specific Helper Factors: An Overview after Ten Years....Pages 93-122 Fine Specificity of H-2-Restricted, Lysozyme Specific Suppressor T Cell Factor....Pages 123-132 Marrow Regulating Factors (MRF) and Radiation Chimeras : A Model for Bone Marrow-Directed Immunity....Pages 133-140 Role of Thymosin and the Neuroendocrine System in the Regulation of Immunity....Pages 141-163 Thymic Factors in Experimental Diseases....Pages 165-176 Lymphokines and the Lymphoendothelial System : An Illustration of Immunoregulatory Integration....Pages 177-199 Cyclic Nucleotides and Related Mechanisms in Immune Regulation : A Mini Review....Pages 201-230 Anatomical and Physiological Connections between the Central Nervous and the Immune Systems (Neuroimmunomodulation)....Pages 231-258 Immunoendocrinology : Endocrine Aspects of Autoimmune Disease....Pages 259-270 Prostaglandins and Immunoregulation....Pages 271-281 Behavioral Conditioning and Immunity....Pages 283-313 Neuroendocrine Immunoregulation....Pages 315-339 Thymus-Neuroendocrine Network....Pages 341-362 Myasthenia Gravis: Thymic and Peripheral Blood Cell Interactions in Specific Antibody Production....Pages 363-372 Muscular Dystrophies and Thymic Deficiency....Pages 373-383 Ataxia-Telangiectasia: A Neuro-Endocrine-Immune Disease? Alternative Models of Pathogenesis....Pages 385-398 Accelerated Aging in Down’s Syndrome: The Concept of Hierarchical Homeostasis in Relation to Local and Global Failure....Pages 399-417 Natural Resistance Against Tumors “In Vivo”....Pages 419-452 Immunogenetic Determinants Controlling the Metastatic Properties of Tumor Cells....Pages 453-463 Back Matter....Pages 465-477 Immunoregulation is one of the areas which has witnessed the most explosive advances of immunology during the past decade. It is in this area that the current view of the immune system has arisen and developed. There is indeed little doubt that immune reactions are primarily determined by messages which are genera ted within the immune system and passed among different types of immunologie cells. This cell communication not only determines the type, intensity and duration of the response after perturbation of the immune system by exogenous antigens, but it is also essential for preventing autoimmune reactions and their clinical conseƯ quences. In order to assure aperfect balance within the enormous comƯ plexity of the immune system, it is not surprising that multiple self-regulatory mechanisms are organized at different levels, such as antibody feedback, idiotypic-anti-idiotypic responses, suppresƯ sor and helper T cells, lymphokine signals and genetic requireƯ ments. A nu mb er of observations in recent years have, however, demonstrated that consistent contributions to the immunological homeostasis are given also by signals generated outside of the immune system, namely, in the central and autonomous nervous system as weIl as in the endocrine apparatus. Furthermore, the interactions between the immune system and the other body homestatic mechanisms seem to be bidirectional: if immunological cells may be targets of neuroendocrinological factors, immunological products seem in turn to contribute to the neuroƯ endocrine homeostasis
