Anti-inflammatory immunotherapy
There are two types of extracorporeal immunotherapy that can be used alone or in combination with each other.
1. Anti-inflammatory lymphocyte immunotherapy (T-, B-cell vaccination). Variable parts of T- and B-cell antigen receptors are formed in the postnatal period, such that no innate immunological tolerance is formed to these molecular structures in adulthood. Upon exacerbations of autoimmune and allergic diseases, pathogenic lymphocytes begin to dominate among circulating lymphocytes. It was shown that in the absence of exogenous antigens, activated leukocytes can efficiently present those immunogenic determinants (idiotypes) of antigenic receptors for recognition by T and B lymphocytes (Figure 1), thus inducing anti-idiotypic immune responses selectively aimed at inactivating pathogenic lymphocytes (reviews by Seledtsov et al., 2010; Huang et al., 2014).
Figure 1. Schematic representation of a T-cell receptor.
2. Tolerogenic leukocyte immunotherapy. Blocking the development of inflammatory immune responses has been shown to induce tolerogenic properties in dendritic cells and macrophages. Antigen presentation by such tolerogenic cells occurs in a manner that inactivates antigen-reactive T lymphocytes and enhances immunosuppressive activity of regulatory T cells. Based on this observation, we have developed a technology allowing us to obtain antigen-presenting tolerogenic cells that can effectively inhibit the development of autoimmune and allergic inflammatory processes in patients.
Diseases:
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Ankylosing spondylitis
- Psoriasis
- Autoimmune vasculitis
- Scleroderma
- Atopic dermatitis
- Polyantigenic allergy
Indications for immunotherapy:
• Inefficiency or insufficient effectiveness of traditional treatment regiments.
• Сontraindications for traditional treatment protocols.
• Reluctance of the patient to receive standard immunosuppressive treatment schemes.
Contraindications for immunotherapy:
- Severe anemia
- Multiple organ failure
Advantages and benefits of anti-inflammatory immunotherapy:
- The achievement of sustained clinical effects in most patients.
- The improvement (normalization) of laboratory blood parameters.
- The reduction in drug burden.
- The absence of significant side effects.
- Repeated courses of therapy are possible and feasible upon disease relapses that occur due to the appearance of new pathogenic lymphocytes.
- The availability of multiple combination options with other therapeutic interventions including physiotherapy.