Vaccines Global Summit

Vaccine Strategies for Autoimmune Diseases-the Approach Towards Mitigating Autoimmune Diseases Autoimmune diseases are conditions where the immune system begins to attack its own body tissues mistakenly. Unlike traditional vaccines, which function through the enhancement of the immune response against pathogens, vaccines for autoimmune diseases modulate or suppress particular immune responses to avoid further damage of the cells in the body. Autoimmune diseases where the tissue of the body is attacked by the immune system leading to continued inflammation, pain, and damage to an organ. The classical treatments include immunosuppressive drugs that reduce the level of activity of the immune system but leave patients vulnerable to infections and other complications based on suppressed immune responses.

Therapeutic vaccines for autoimmune diseases can therefore offer a more targeted way of re-educating the immune system not to attack body tissues. Vaccination will either be through introduction of modified antigens or proteins, which will allow the immune system to distinguish between harmful invaders and body cells. The outcome would thus be to suppress harmful immune responses without this affecting the body's ability to fight infections.

One of these promising strategies is based on the design of tolerogenic vaccines intended to induce immune tolerance. For example, therapeutic vaccines in multiple sclerosis may reduce the attack of the immune system on the nervous system, so delaying disease progression and its associated symptoms. Vaccines in type 1 diabetes are used to prevent a blow to the immune cells in the pancreas that may cause, or at least delay, the onset of the disease in exposed individuals. Research is also on the development of vaccines that can cause long-term immune tolerance; this may give patients a more sustainable means to manage autoimmune conditions without having to take lifelong medication.

The scope for changing the course of treatment of autoimmune diseases increases with new developments in vaccine strategy, which will provide patients with a way to better manage their condition and enhance their quality of life.