ABSTRACT
Preceding chapters have described the wide range of immune-mediated diseases that may affect domestic animals. These are of greatest consequence in companion animal species, which are generally longer lived and have much closer contact with their human owners. There is a great demand for medical management of these diseases and a requirement for products that might either suppress (e.g. in autoimmunity or allergy) or amplify (e.g. in immunodeficiency, infectious or neoplastic disease) immune function. Unfortunately, this requirement is poorly met by the availability of safe and effective medicines. The range of immunosuppressive drugs currently used in animals has been adopted from human medicine. These drugs are often used empirically without solid pharmacokinetic studies and most are not specifically licensed veterinary products. There are even fewer options available for stimulating
immune function and most such agents are unlicensed. This chapter reviews these products and also describes the recent advances in human immunotherapy that may potentially flow through to veterinary medicine in the future.
