The potential use of T cell epitopes to alter the immune response

Recent advances in the understanding of T cell specificity and activation have lead to the design of T cell specific immunomodulators. T cell epitope containing peptides have been proposed as agents which may either enhance or dampen the immune response. In this review, we examine two systems which can benefit from the application of this novel technology. Vaccine development is moving toward the use of defined cloned or synthetic molecules. T cell epitope identification and design can be used to augment the ability of a weak antigen to generate an immune response. In contrast, traditional allergy immunotherapy has been shown to alter the immune response to the allergenic antigen. T cell epitope approaches to allergy desensitization offer a new therapeutic modality.