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Immunologic tolerance for immune system-mediated diseases.
1National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-7640, USA.
The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
|March 9, 1999
Summary
Inducing antigen-specific immunologic tolerance offers a promising approach to treat immune-mediated diseases like asthma and autoimmune disorders. This targeted therapy aims to eliminate harmful immune responses while preserving protective immunity.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Immunotherapy
Background:
- Immune system-mediated diseases such as asthma, allergies, autoimmune disorders, and transplant rejection require novel therapeutic strategies.
- Current immunosuppressive treatments often compromise the entire immune system, leaving patients vulnerable to infections.
Framework:
- Developing therapies for immunologic tolerance aims to selectively target and eliminate undesired immune responses.
- This approach seeks to preserve essential protective immunity, differentiating it from broad immunosuppression.
Implementation:
- Strategies include interfering with T-cell costimulatory signals and T-cell receptor antagonism.
- Other methods involve antigen-induced apoptosis, inducing regulatory cytokines, mixed chimerism for transplant tolerance, and immunostimulatory DNA sequences.
Implications:
- These multifaceted approaches are grounded in fundamental immune mechanisms.
- Successful development could lead to rational, targeted therapies for a range of immune-mediated diseases.