Introduction

Abstract

Infectious diseases, being the major burden in the history of mankind worldwide until the beginning of the twentieth century, were important triggers in the understanding of immunological mechanisms. In contrast to infectious diseases, reports of allergies and cancers were less common but increased tremendously within the last century. Based on the US mortality data of the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2008, the recent report of the American Cancer Society indicated that the trend of the number of cancer deaths between 1930 and 2007 increased from 100,000 to almost 550,000 per year, with leading causes being lung and bronchus cancer in general, prostate cancer in men, and breast cancer in women. However, depending on the type and site of the malignancy some incidences have decreased. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010. All rights reserved.