The main goal is to reprogramme or remove autoreactive cells and/or induce immune tolerance to self-antigens. Current therapies either treat symptoms or slow down disease progression but are not yet curative or preventive – disease-specific treatments are urgently needed. In contrast, ASIs target a restricted subset of B cells or T cells, and thus do not compromise systemic immunity and host defense.
The article reviews novel approaches for identifying autoepitopes and detecting and targeting autoreactive cells that might help in the development of ASIs. Objectives Depleting autoreactive T cells, B cells and plasma cells could be a future therapeutic strategy for rheumatic disease and could lead to temporary improvement in disease Awakening antigen-specific tolerance by inducing T (Treg) cells using antigen-specific tolerogenic peptides alone or coupled to cells or nanoparticles can…
