Peptide immunotherapy

Allergic disease is a major cause of morbidity in the developed world. Curr ent treatments are only partially effective and traditional whole allergen immunotherapy carries the risk of anaphylaxis. Allergen-derived T cell pept ide epitopes offer the possibility of modulating the immune response to all ergen with only minimal side effects. This chapter will review the rational e behind the use of peptides for immunotherapy and the current evidence fro m both in vitro and in vivo systems concerning their mechanism of action an d efficacy.