Autoimmune diseases affect 800 million people worldwide, causing the immune system to damage the body. Current treatments suppress the immune system, making patients vulnerable. Researchers are developing 'inverse vaccines' that specifically target the immune system's pathologies without broadly suppressing it. Northwestern immunologist Stephen Miller's study demonstrated the effectiveness of inverse vaccines in humans, particularly in celiac disease, where they retrain the immune response to gluten. This innovative approach, utilizing synthetic nanoparticles, may provide a more precise treatment, reducing collateral damage and improving patient outcomes.
The basic idea of inverse vaccines rests on using synthetic nanoparticles attached to disease-related proteins as targeted messengers to retrain the immune system.
These treatments, known as inverse vaccines, suppress a particular part of the immune system rather than amplifying it, offering a precise approach to autoimmune diseases.
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