ORAL TOLERIZATION AS A TREATMENT OF RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS

The basic science immunology community is quite accepting of the pheno menon of oral tolerance induction in animals; however, in contradistin ction, the clinical community is somewhat agnostic regarding oral tole rance. Progress in multiple sclerosis has not been definitive and outc omes in RA have been modest at best. Recent reports in animal models h ave suggested that oral ingestion of autoantigen can have deleterious effects on the host. Although those experiments have had a highly arti ficial framework, they are consistent with the possibility that oral a ntigen therapy in human disease may be: (1) beneficial; (2) of no cons equence; or (3) detrimental. An extremely open mind will hopefully be applied to future research efforts.