Fundamentals of clinical immunotoxicology.

Whereas animal studies are invaluable for screening various chemical and drugs for immunotoxic potential, such systems are necessarily limited in their predictive value for humans given the differences in physiology, immune system structure and function, and various other parameters between humans and nonhuman animals. However, prospective experimental studies in humans are not always practical or ethical. What is needed is an approach for combining animal data, human data collected in the course of clinical studies, and modern tools of bioinformatics and systems biology. In this chapter, we will explore current assays and methodologies for assessing immunotoxic potential in humans using this multi--parameter approach.