Asghar Aghamohammadi
1,2, Hassan Abolhassani
1,2, Nima Rezaei
1,2,3*1 Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Children’s Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases Network (PIDNet), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran
3 Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
*Corresponding Author: *Corresponding Author: Nima Rezaei, MD, PhD; Children’s Medical Center, 62 Qarib St, Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran 14194, Iran. Tel: +98-21- 66929234; Email :, Email:
rezaei_nima@tums.ac.ir
Abstract
Clinical immunology and its subset topics are rather newly emerging medical fields in Iran as well as other developing countries. Primary immunodeficiency diagnosis and treatment were revolutionized in the late 1970s; a period of time that coincided with the establishment of the Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy at the Children’s Medical Center, Tehran. Subsequently, the launch of fellowship training programs (in 1988), the development of a national Iranian Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases Registry (in 1999), the inauguration of Research Center for Immunodeficiencies (in 2009), and recently, the national primary immunodeficiency network (in 2016) significantly changed the picture of disease management during the last 40 years. In this review, we seek to elucidate the most important past events, current challenges and future directions regarding the field of primary immunodeficiency.