Crohn's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Crohn's Disease, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, causes, medication.

Oral immune regulation toward disease-associated antigens: results of phase I clinical trials in Crohn's disease and chronic hepatitis.

Ilan Y

Liver and Gastroenterology Units, Department of Medicine, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, P.O.Box 12000, Jerusalem, Israel IL-91120. ilan@hadassah.org.il

Oral immune regulation is an immune response toward orally administered antigens, and is a balance between several types of responses. Recent studies in animal models have shown that antiviral immunity and the immune response toward colonic proteins can be modulated by oral feeding of these antigens. The effect of oral immune regulation on the outcome of various immune-mediated processes, including infectious, inflammatory, and neoplastic entities, has been the subject of much research and debate in recent years. Two phase I clinical trials have evaluated the effect of oral immune regulation in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection and Crohn's disease. Mechanisms and possible future clinical applications of this immune modulatory method are discussed.

Published 31 January 2005 in Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1029: 286-98.
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