Liposomes in autoimmune diseases: selected applications in immunotherapy and inflammation detection

In this contribution three examples are discussed of ongoing research where liposomes are used as carrier systems for immunotherapy and inflammation detection in autoimmune diseases. Liposomes can be used as carrier systems of antigenic peptides to peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The second example deals with their use as carrier systems for MHC-peptide complexes for multivalent Ag-presentation to autoreactive T lymphocytes to specifically modulate the activity of these T lymphocytes. The third example relates to our work on long circulating liposomes which are currently being tested in man for their potential to image inflammation sites.