Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2002 Aug;6(4):279-81.
doi: 10.1186/cc1507. Epub 2002 Jul 4.

Immunodepression in the surgical patient and increased susceptibility to infection

Hans-Dieter Volk  1
Affiliations
Comment

Immunodepression in the surgical patient and increased susceptibility to infection

Hans-Dieter Volk. Crit Care. 2002 Aug.

Abstract

Multiple organ failure is the major problem in intensive care patients. The failure of the organ 'immune system' is frequently overlooked, however. In this issue the article by Angele and Faist provides an excellent review of the topic. Deactivation of monocyte and lymphocyte functions seems to play a key role in post-traumatic immunodepression. To accompany that review we summarize our knowledge of the mechanisms of deactivation. Stress response, lipopolysaccharide translocalization and tissue injury contribute to 'immunoparalysis'. Recently developed, well standardized assays now allow us to monitor the immune system like other organ functions and opens new approaches for therapeutic interventions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Regulation of monocytic HLA-DR, tumour necrosis factor (TNF) secretion and antigen-presenting cell (APC) activity. G-CSF, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor; GM-CSF, granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor; IFN, interferon; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; TGF, transforming growth factor.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

    1. Angele MK, Faist E. Clinical review: Immunodepression in the surgical patient and increased susceptibility to infection. Crit Care. 2002;6:298–305. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Borovikova LV, Ivanova S, Zhang M, Yang H, Botchkina GI, Watkins LR, Wang H, Abumrad N, Eaton JW, Tracey KJ. Vagus nerve stimulation attenuates the systemic inflammatory response to endotoxin. Nature. 2000;405:458–462. doi: 10.1038/35013070. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Woiciechowsky C, Asadullah K, Nestler D, Eberhardt B, Platzer C, Schoning B, Glockner F, Lanksch WR, Volk HD, Docke WD. Sympathetic activation triggers systemic IL-10 release in immunodepression induced by brain injury. Nat Med. 1998;4:808–813. - PubMed
    1. Reinke P, Docke WD, Kox W, Zuckermann H, Volk HD. New developments in the immunodiagnosis of patients in intensive care [in German]. Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 1999;124:1527–1529. - PubMed
    1. Volk HD, Zuckermann H, Kox W, Woicieczowsky CH, Hoeflich C, Buhl K, Graeta G, Doeckel I, Reinke P. Immune monitoring and strategies for immune modulation. In: Linden P, Doughty LA, editor. In Molecular and Cellular Biology of Critical Care Medicine, Immunology and Infectious Disease Chapter 6. Kluwer Academic Publishers; 2002.

MeSH terms