Interleukin-4 Makes End-Run Around Autoaggression After DNA Immunization.(Brief Article)

2002 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Giving prophylactic doses of interleukin (IL)-4 may be one way to avoid overly active immune system responses sometimes observed following DNA immunizations with autoantigens.

DNA immunizations have been proposed as one of several methods for preventing or treating type 1 diabetes, which arises as a result of the body recognizing pancreatic cells as foreign antigens.

"Administration of autoantigens through DNA immunizations or via the oral route can prevent progression of islet destruction and lower the incidence of type 1 diabetes in animal models," T. Wolfe and colleagues, the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, noted in a study report.

Wolfe and associates explained that with DNA immunizations derived from autoantigens, response following vaccination can either be regulatory or too aggressive. If autoaggression arises, the results can be harmful, according to Wolfe and coworkers

They used viruses to induce type 1 diabetes in an animal model to examine which factors tend to favor autoreaction or autoaggression and found that "endogenous expression levels of the islet antigens and glutamic acid decarboxylase determine whether immunization with these antigens is beneficial or detrimental."

Differential expression of endogenous cytokines, particularly IL-4, was the predicating factor for immune system reaction (Endogenous expression levels of autoantigens influence success or failure of DNA immunizations to prevent type 1 ...