Glossary
Adaptive immunity: an acquired, or learned immune response whereby resistance to a pathogen is achieved either by vaccination, or by having been previously exposed to the pathogen, or a very closely related organism, and having fought it off.
Adrenal hormones: a class of regulatory hormones that are made by the adrenal gland, a gland on the top of the kidney that produces a variety of substances including estrogen, androgen, progestin and corticosteroids.
Analogs: a new chemical compound that is created by modifying or manipulating an existing compound.
Androgenic: having effects similar to those associated with the male sex hormones, also known as androgens.
Androstane: the parent of the androgenic steroids.
Androstene: Androstane with an unsaturated, or double bonded pair of carbons.
B-cells: A class of white blood cell that develop to make antibodies.
Cell-mediated immune response: an immune response employing the direct action of T-cells to recognize and destroy infections and cancers.
Corticosteroid: another type of adrenal hormone often used to treat inflammatory conditions. Usage is often limited by severe immune suppressive side effects.
Cytokines: regulatory proteins released by cells that act as signals in the generation of an immune response.
Dehydroepiandrosterone: or DHEA, the most abundant precursor adrenal hormone in the human body.
Endocrine System: The set of organs and tissues of the body that secrete hormones.
Gene transcription: A vital step in the complex transfer of information from the genetic code, located in the nucleus, to the cytoplasm of the cell, where the information is then used to make proteins.
Glucocorticoid: corticosteroid hormone involved in carbohydrate metabolism.
Hematopoiesis: The formation of blood or of blood cells in the living body.
Homeostasis: maintenance of internal equilibrium in a cell or organism
Hormones: chemicals made in the body, act at distant sites from where they are made, and help regulate body functions including immunity, metabolism, growth and reproduction.
Humoral immune response: an immune response employing B-cells, and antibodies, to recognize and destroy infections.
Immune dysregulation: a condition of imbalance that compromises the body’s ability to mount an appropriate immune system and that can even lead to a destructive immune response, causing tissue damage and organ failure.
Immune regulating hormones (IRHs): a proprietary class of adrenal hormones that have been shown in clinical and preclinical studies to regulate immune responses and metabolic functions.
Immune Senescence: The gradual loss of immune function often associated with aging or immediately following trauma or injury.
Immune suppression: suppression of the immune system by and agent or condition.
Innate immunity: the body’s immediate immune response to foreign invaders that is not dependent on prior exposure to the same invader.
Metabolites: products of compounds discarded, used up, or detoxified by the body. Metabolites of drugs are sometimes more active, or act differently than the parent compound.
Mutagenesis: Formation or development of a mutation.
Neutropenia: condition characterized by an extreme loss of neutrophils in blood.
Neutrophils: A type of infection-fighting white blood cells, usually associated with the innate immune system.
Platelets: a component of blood responsible for clotting.
Signal transduction: the transmission of a signal across a barrier, usually a membrane.
T-cells: A class of white blood cells, closely associated with the adaptive immune response, whose many functions include direct killing of infected and transformed cells as well as orchestration of the entire immune response.
Th1-type response: cell-mediated adaptive immune response.
Th2-type response: humoral immune response.
Thrombocytopenia: a condition characterized by a severe loss of platelets in the blood.
Tuberculosis: A highly variable communicable disease of humans and some other vertebrates caused by the tubercle bacillus and rarely in the U.S. by a related mycobacterium (Mycobacterium bovis) and characterized by toxic symptoms or allergic manifestations which in humans primarily affect the lungs.