DNA immunotherapeutics: new potential treatment modalities for allergic disease

Genetic immunization is a relatively new approach to vaccination, one that has generated considerable interest for its potential to prevent or treat a number of types of disease processes. Although initial work focused on potential applications in infectious disease, it was soon recognized that the antigen-specific Th1 response typically generated by genetic immunization protocols could also be useful for the treatment of allergic disease. In this review we present a summary of genetic vaccination and the related topic of immunostimulatory DNA sequences - which we collectively designate DNA immunotherapeutics - and discuss their potential for the prevention and therapy of allergic disease.