Studies of Altered Response to Infection Induced by Thermal Injury.
Abstract
The high incidence of fatal septicemia associated with severe thermal injury is believed to result from loss of immunocompetence. This laboratory has been able to identify those burn patients who are at greatest risk for developing fatal sepsis by detecting the loss of certain immune functions by cells of these patients. Besides designing assays to monitor the critical burn induced immunodefects, our experiments have focused on those mechanisms which when triggered by severe thermal injury, can lead to cellular immune aberrations. Direct burn-induced immune dysfunction can result from aberrations in any of three general types of leukocytes which cooperatively mediate the generation of immune function. These three leukocyte subpopulations are the antigen specific bone marrow derived (B) cell, the antigen specific thymus-derived (T) cell, and a third extremely heterogenous population of leukocytes - the monocyte or macrophage (M0). During this contract year our focal point has been both studying burn-induced alterations in monocyte (M0) function and examination of possible therapeutic modalities designed to reverse or diminish these M0 defects.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 03, 1983
- Accession Number
- ADA171702
Entities
People
- Carol L. Miller
Organizations
- University of California, San Francisco