Method for down-regulating IgE

A method for down-regulating autologous IgE in an animal, including a human being by inducing a specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response against cells producing autologous IgE, the method comprising effecting, in the animal, simultaneous presentation by a suitable antigen presenting cell (APC) of

• at least one CTL epitope derived from IgE of the animal, and
• at least one first T-helper lymphocyte (TH) epitope which is foreign to the animal.

A method for selection of an immunogenic analogue of a autologous IgE of an animal, said immunogenic analogue being capable of inducing a CTL response in the animal against cells displaying an MHC Class I molecule bound to an epitope derived from the autologous IgE, the method comprising

• a) identifying at least one subsequence of the amino acid sequence of the autologous IgE which does not contain known or predicted CTL epitopes,
• b) preparing at least one putatively immunogenic analogue of the autologous IgE by introducing, in the amino acid sequence of the autologous IgE, at least one TH epitope foreign to the animal in a position within the at least one subsequence identified in step a), and
• c) selecting the/those analogues prepared in step b) which are verifiably capable of inducing a CTL response in the animal.

An analogue of human IgE which is capable of inducing an immune response against autologous IgE in a human subject, the analogue comprising at least one CTL or B-cell epitope of the constant IgE heavy or light chain and at least one foreign TH cell epitope.