Autoimmune ocular disorders.
The ability of orally presented antigen to induce a state of tolerance has been recognised for many years. The use of this immunological phenomenon of oral tolerance to treat autoimmune diseases is a more recent development in the field of mucosal immunology. Ocular autoimmunity is especially intriguing because of the unique immunological characteristics of the eye. On the basis of laboratory data, the ;feeding' of ocular antigens has been proposed as a safe and efficacious therapy for uveitis. Two patients with uveitis have been successfully treated with oral administration of retinal S-antigen, and a larger phase I/II trial of oral tolerance as a treatment for uveitis is currently being completed at the National Eye Institute.
Rizzo
L V
LV
Laboratory of Immunology, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Whitcup
S M
SM
Nussenblatt
R B
RB