About this Research Topic
Autoimmune diseases (AIDs) are the clinical manifestation of a breakdown in the regulation of immune responses to self-antigens. AIDs include a wide range of conditions that may be systemic or localized to a single tissue. They are almost always chronic, debilitating, and, at times, fatal conditions. AIDs affects millions of people globally, approximately 1 in 10 individuals, and females are about 7 times more prone than males to develop an AID over their lifetime. Despite significant research efforts over the years, there is a clear unmet research need to better understand the mechanisms that lead to disruption of immune regulation, as well as an unmet clinical need for new effective autoimmune disease therapeutics that reduce patient suffering.
It is speculated that ill-defined, heterogeneous environmental and/or genetic factors are responsible for triggering complex, self-perpetuating immune responses against self-antigens. These responses result in structural and physiological changes in cells and tissues that lead to clinical symptoms. Current therapies for AIDs focus on controlling symptoms and therefore are not antigen or disease-specific. As they do not target the cause of the disease, they have little impact on disease progression and or debilitating side effects. This is especially true for systemic diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.
Nonetheless, research has also shown that several AIDs are associated with immune responses to only a few self-antigens. In recent years there has been impressive progress in demonstrating how antigen- or tissue-selective immune-based therapies might be used to restore immune homeostasis in these diseases. The proposed Special Issue would showcase the current status of these efforts both at the basic research level as well as their clinical development.
The proposed research topic would cover a spectrum of antigen-specific therapies for autoimmune diseases. Author contributors would include, but not be limited to the following themes:
- Antigen-specific vaccinations (DNA, peptide, protein)
- Tolerance induction by hyposensitization with antigen or peptide fragments
- Soluble peptide-MHC complexes
- CAR-T cells
- Monoclonal antibodies
- Elimination of self-antigen-specific lymphocytes
The topic editors declare no conflict of interest
It is speculated that ill-defined, heterogeneous environmental and/or genetic factors are responsible for triggering complex, self-perpetuating immune responses against self-antigens. These responses result in structural and physiological changes in cells and tissues that lead to clinical symptoms. Current therapies for AIDs focus on controlling symptoms and therefore are not antigen or disease-specific. As they do not target the cause of the disease, they have little impact on disease progression and or debilitating side effects. This is especially true for systemic diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.
Nonetheless, research has also shown that several AIDs are associated with immune responses to only a few self-antigens. In recent years there has been impressive progress in demonstrating how antigen- or tissue-selective immune-based therapies might be used to restore immune homeostasis in these diseases. The proposed Special Issue would showcase the current status of these efforts both at the basic research level as well as their clinical development.
The proposed research topic would cover a spectrum of antigen-specific therapies for autoimmune diseases. Author contributors would include, but not be limited to the following themes:
- Antigen-specific vaccinations (DNA, peptide, protein)
- Tolerance induction by hyposensitization with antigen or peptide fragments
- Soluble peptide-MHC complexes
- CAR-T cells
- Monoclonal antibodies
- Elimination of self-antigen-specific lymphocytes
The topic editors declare no conflict of interest
Keywords: Targeted Immunotherapy, Autoimmune Disease, Self-antigen Reactive Lymphocytes, CAR-T cells, Self-antigen specific therapy
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