DNA vaccines for autoimmune diseases

Autoimmune diseases represent a group of disorders in which there exists a large unmet medical need for effective treatments, but also where there exists a tremendous responsibility among physicians and drug developers to maintain adequate and acceptable patient safety. Several drugs have been approved and many others are about to be approved for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, but in pushing the envelope of therapeutic efficacy, concerns have been raised about the long-term safety of these new therapies. DNA vaccines provide a method of treating autoimmune diseases in a highly specific manner, and could therefore overcome these safety concerns while still maintaining comparable efficacy. The numerous reports of DNA vaccines in animal models of autoimmune diseases and results from three recent human trials of DNA vaccines in autoimmune diseases are reviewed here.