Liposomes in autoimmune diseases: selected applications in immunotherapy and inflammation detection

In this contribution three examples are discussed of ongoing research where liposomes are used as carrier systems for immunotherapy and inflammation d etection in autoimmune diseases. Liposomes can be used as carrier systems o f antigenic peptides to peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The second exam ple deals with their use as carrier systems for MHC-peptide complexes for m ultivalent Ag-presentation to autoreactive T lymphocytes to specifically mo dulate the activity of these T lymphocytes, The third example relates to ou r work on long circulating liposomes which are currently being tested in ma n for their potential to image inflammation sites. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scienc e B.V. All rights reserved.