Nickeloff (skin cancer research, Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Chicago) and Nestle (cutaneous medicine and immunotherapy, King's College, London School of Medicine at Guy's, UK) assemble 19 review articles on autoimmune disease processes that affect the skin, covering both humoral and cellular immunity. The etiology, cellular and molecular mechanisms, therapeutic strategies, and pathophysiology of diseases such as psoriasis, dermatitis, cutaneous lupus erythematosus, vitiligo, and scleroderma are discussed by individuals in dermatology, genetics, immunology, and pathology who are based around the world. The book is aimed at clinical researchers, students, allergists, immunologists, dermatologists, and internists.

This book reviews the role of each cell subset in the skin, providing the basics for understanding skin immunology and the mechanisms of skin diseases. The skin is one of the immune organs and is continually exposed to foreign antigens and external stimuli that must be monitored and characterized for possible elimination. Upon exposure to foreign antigens, the skin can elicit a variety of immune responses in harmony with skin components that include keratinocytes, dendritic cell subsets, mast cells, basophils, fibroblasts, macrophages, gamma-delta T cells, neutrophils, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, vascular and lymphatic cells, hair follicles, platelets, and adipose tissues, among others. In the past 10 years, knowledge of immunology has expanded drastically in areas such as innate immunity (Toll-like receptors, C-type lectins), and host defenses to bacteria and viruses, and this increased knowledge has led to the development of more effective treatment of psoriasis and other skin diseases. This book provides updates on the mechanisms of skin diseases including contact dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, urticaria, drug eruption, bullous diseases, anaphylaxis, graft-versus-host disease, rosacea, lymphoma, photodermatology, and collagen vascular diseases. Understanding the basics of skin immunology will help clinicians and dermatologists use new therapeutics such as biologics efficiently. Serving as an intermediary between basic science and clinical medicine, this book gives readers the opportunity to understand and marvel at the mystery and fascination of skin immunology.

Immunodermatology is a field covering the majority of skin diseases, including the most prevalent onesin the general population. The Second Edition of Skin Immune System (SIS) discusses immune-mediated skin diseases and disease groups in which the SIS plays a role. It covers major findings in immunophysiology and immunopathology that have occurred since the introduction of the First Edition in 1990. As the subtitle indicates, the Second Edition adds a new emphasis on cutaneous immunology, and also includes new information on immune-based therapeutic interventions and methods, such as phototherapy and the immunological therapy of skin cancer. The book contains Part I, with introductory chapters; Part II, with descriptions of the cellular elements; and Part III, which describes the humoral and molecular components of SIS. Part IV follows to integrate the facts described in Parts II and III into concepts of pathophysiology. It contains a number of concepts entitled "response patterns" that describe how the constitutional elements of SIS work together. New in this edition are the descriptions of immunodermatological diseases individually described in Part V. Part VI is also all new and summarizes principles of immunotherapy.

This book discusses typical skin diseases from an immunological point of view, introducing the latest immunological techniques and practices. It begins with a brief overview of the human immune system, including the basic concepts and principles as well as the general symbols used in immunology. Part Two describes the human skin as an integral part of the immune system, explaining the immunological roles of major cellular and molecular composites in the skin. Part Three illustrates typical skin diseases that have immunological involvement (immunodermatological conditions). It describes 40 skin diseases, focusing on immunological causes, pathogenesis, pattern of reaction and treatment choices and responses. The final part discusses advanced immunodiagnostics and immunotherapy in dermatology, providing detailed descriptions of immune techniques for the diagnosis of skin diseases, their principles and background, indications, requirements for sampling, test protocols, interpretation of results and trouble shooting. This work offers insights into both the systemic immune system and the skin immune system, and integrates the information into discussions of clinical diseases, relevant immune techniques and immunological drugs. Presenting the latest advances in clinical immunology, it is an invaluable resource for dermatologists, residents and graduate students in dermatology.

This updated volume provides a “user-friendly” reference for dermatologists, dermatology residents and students, as well as for health care workers in related fields to better understand immune-mediated skin diseases and their therapies. The focus is on what is needed by the physician/resident or student for betting understanding the pathophysiology of the disease as well as the mechanisms of action of the therapies. The reader can easily read about groups of related diseases as well as groups of related therapies. The level of complexity of the book is such that it has practical applications on a daily basis but can also be used by the resident as a teaching tool and as a handy source of review for the boards. In addition, it can be used the practicing dermatologist to study for recertification. The scope of the book is immunology, immunogenetics, immunopathology and immunopharmacology as they relate to clinical dermatology.

Dermatologists are being asked to understand the pathophysiology of a number of immune-mediated skin diseases. In addition, a number of new products have appeared on the market during the past decade which requires an understanding of the mechanisms of action of these drugs. Dermatologists, however, have no easily understood book to which they can refer to regarding the disease or the drug.

First published in 1992. Dermal Immune System discusses the structural and functional characterizations of the dermal immune system, including dermal dendritic cells, monocyte/macrophages, microvascular endothelial cells, pericytes, veil cells, fibroblasts, mast cells, dermal T lymphocytes, and peripheral nerve endings. This information is invaluable for gaining an understanding of how multicellular complex networks interface within the dermis and between the exogenous environment and endogenous milieu. Specific examples are provided that document the involvement of the dermal immune system in the pathophysiology of several skin diseases that result from perturbation of normal cutaneous homeostasis. Dermal Immune System is an excellent reference volume that should always be close at hand for immunologists, cell biologists, investigative dermatologists, pathologists, and clinicians involved in the care of patients with skin disease.

Top scientific authors contribute their expertise and put a wealth of complex information into perspective in Skin Immune System: Cutaneous Immunology & Clinical Immunodermatology, Third Edition. This edition provides an overview of the skin immune system (SIS), a totally updated section on immunodermatological diseases, and six new chapters. Part I presents historical and comparative information on immunodermatology and includes a new chapter on the immunogenetics of inflammatory skin disease, while Part II covers the cellular elements of SIS and highlights newly defined functional subclasses of cells. Part III describes the humoral elements of SIS and provides two new chapters which focus on defensins and cathelicidins, and on the chemokines of human skin. Part IV discusses how the cellular and humoral elements of SIS interact under different circumstances and includes a new chapter on signal transduction pathways in cutaneous immunology. Part V focuses on dermatological diseases with a significant immunological background with a new chapter on the immunology of cutaneous drug eruptions, followed by Part VI on immunotherapy in dermatology, which features a new chapter reflecting the recent wave of products from biotechnology. Since the publication of the previous editions, a great deal of significant information has become available in almost all areas of cutaneous immunology and clinical immunodermatology. This progress has now been reflected in a completely updated and expanded resource.

By 1940, immunological mechanisms had been proved to have fundamental influ ences on a great number and variety of skin reactions, and skin diseases had brought to light a great number of fundamental immunological mechanisms that were basic to a wide range of different diseases, dermatological and nondermato logical. The preeminence of dermatological research in the advancement of immu nological knowledge should not astonish anyone. For the skin is not only the most easily accessible tissue for producing and studying immunological reactions, it is also the great organ of protection that meets the first onslaughts of inimical environmental forces and agents-potential enemies, both living and dead. And protection is in essence what immunology is all about. To get an idea of the long-established role that testing the skin and the study of its many reactions has played in advancing general immunology, one need recall only smallpox vaccination; tuberculin testing; testing with fungal extracts; skin testing in hay fever, asthma, and serum sickness; skin tests with toxins and toxoids; the patch test; the passive transfer of skin-adhering antibodies (reagins); skin sensitization by simple chemicals; and similar dermatological procedures that have exerted their influence on medical and scientific disciplines far beyond dermatology.

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