Autoimmune diseases immunotherapy

Bach JF. Immunotherapy of type 1 diabetes lessons for other autoimmune diseases. Arthritis Res 2002 4(Suppl 3) S3-15. 

Leech MD, Chung C-Y, Culshaw A, Anderton SM Peptide-based immunotherapy of CNS autoimmune disease without anaphylaxis. Eur J Immunol 2007 37 3576-3581. 

Initially, the immunosuppressive agents, such as cyclophosphamide (32), azathioprine, and methotrexate, were developed to inhibit malignant cell proliferation. The immunosuppressant activity was discovered later and these agents were then applied to treat autoimmune diseases, where patients did not respond to high doses of steroids (51). The potential side effects associated with these agents have encouraged the search for unique immunosuppressants having more acceptable safety and efficacy profiles (62). Future approaches need to incorporate early treatment with immunotherapy... 

Adorini L, Sinigaglia F (1997) Pathogenesis and immunotherapy of autoimmune diseases. Immunol Today 18 209-211. 

Cohen Y, Polliack A, Nagler A. Treatment of refractory autoimmune diseases with ablative immunotherapy using monoclonal antibodies and/or high dose chemotherapy with hematopoietic stem cell support. Curr Pharm Des 2003 9 279-288. 

Ludewing B, Ochsenbein AF, Odermatt B, Paulin D, Hengartner H, Zinkernagel RM. Immunotherapy with dendritic cells directed against tumor antigens shared with normal host cells results in severe autoimmune disease. J Exp Med 2000 191 795-803. 

Thompson AG, Thomas R. Induction of immune tolerance by dendritic cells implications for preventative and therapeutic immunotherapy of autoimmune disease. Immunol Cell Biol 2002 80 509-519. 

Nielsen, H. J., and Hammer, H. J., 1992, Possible role of histamine in pathogenesis of autoimmune disease Implications for immunotherapy with histamine-2 receptor antagonists, Med. Hypoth. 39 349-355. 

In spite of the above-described primary immune factors, s-IBM remains resistant to most immunotherapies, justifying the contention that it could be more of a degenerative disease rather than an autoimmune disease. The general connotation, however, that IBM is totally resistant to immunotherapy is not entirely correct. In many clinics that use immunotherapies, including our own, a small number of patients may transiently respond to com-... 

Some speculate that ACAID-based immunotherapy may be beneficial in immune-media ted diseases of the eye and a variety of other organs. This is due to the fact that the immune deviation of ACAID produces T regulatory cells that are effective in inhibiting both Thl and Th2 responses (both primary and secondary responses). Cell d-reac tive NKT cell-dependent tolerance or ACAID induced by inoculation of antigen into the eye may contribute to self-tolerance and prevention of autoimmune responses in organs and tissues in general. 

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