DNA vaccination for treatment of autoimmune disease
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
InventorsLawrence Steinman, Pedro Ruiz, Hideki Garren
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Abstract
A pro-inflammatory T cell response is specifically suppressed by the injection into a recipient of DNA encoding an autoantigen associated with autoimmune disease. The recipient may be further treating by co-vaccination with a DNA encoding a Th2 cytokine, particularly encoding IL4. In response to the vaccination, the proliferation of autoantigen-reactive T cells and the secretion of Th1 cytokines, including IL-2, IFN-γ and IL-15, are reduced.
Claims7
A method for reducing disease severity in a human afflicted with multiple sclerosis comprising administering intramuscularly to the subject a plasmid DNA vector having a low number of CpG motifs compared to the unmodified plasmid DNA vector and comprising an expression cassette, the expression cassette comprising a DNA encoding at least one immunodominant epitope of a human autoantigen associated with multiple sclerosis, so as to thereby reduce disease severity in the subject.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.