T cell vaccination as an immunotherapy for autoimmune diseases

Immunization with inactivated autoreactive T cells(T cell vaccination) selected from individual's own T cell repertoire provides a unique in vivo setting for testing immune regulation that is known to involve interactions of a variety of related surface molecules(1).It induces regulatory immune responses that closely resemble the in vivo situation where the immune system is challenged by clonal activation and expansion of given T cell populations in various autoimmune diseases.T cell vaccination provides a powerful means of eliciting natural reactions of the immune system in response to clonal expansion of T cells,which can be used as a therapeutic approach to suppress or eliminate specific pathogenic autoreactive T cells in autoimmune conditions.Clinical trials using T cell vaccination to deplete autoreactive T cells in human autoimmune conditions have begun to reveal the pathologic relevance of various autoimmune T cell populations in the disease processes,providing a unique opportunity to test the autoimmune theories in a clinical setting.Cellular & Molecular Immunology. 2004;1(5):321-327.