Meeting the challenges of measuring human immune regulation

Data is now emerging that many human diseases not previously considered immune diseases have an immunological basis. As such human immunology is in need of more standardized systems-wide methods for monitoring immune regulation. Despite significant advances in basic immunology research, thousands of patients visiting health practitioners daily still have no reliable immunological metrics by which to assess the status of their immune health beyond the standard blood count. Further investigations are costly, time consuming and often don't offer significant insights into the mechanics of immune deviation or regulation. The immune system meets many criteria of complex biological networks and therefore systems-wide approaches are highly suitable to determining the emergent properties of immune responses. Standardization of immune monitoring, the development of new technology and integrated informatics approaches are needed in order to identify useful hematological and serological markers that are informative for immune health. This brief review outlines some of the more promising developments in systems immunology.