Szalai K, Jensen-Jarolim E, Pali-Schöll I
Department of Pathophysiology, Center of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Immunology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
G Ital Dermatol Venereol. 2008 Apr;143(2):95-104.
Specific immunotherapies are in broad use for many diseases like allergies, cancer, autoimmune diseases or parasitic infections. Although clinical trials show successful application of these therapies, several disadvantages hinder the complete success. High production costs and repeated administrations represent the practical problems, while the possibly occurring side effects are the therapeutic troubles. To avoid these problems, the target specificity should be considered more intensely. Epitopes, the particular parts of antigens/allergens where they bind specific antibodies, are useful targets. To generate an epitope-specific vaccination, mimotopes can be identified via the biopanning technology. Mimotopes are small peptides mimicking the epitopes in the structural as well as in the immunological point of few. They are able to induce antigen-specific antibodies in active immunization form. These antibodies are directed against the natural antigen/allergen, and therefore they are able to block the outbreak of the diseases. Current research focuses on the development of mimotopes to achieve an epitope-specific induction of blocking antibodies, e.g. for allergy treatment. In cancer therapy, studies with mimotopes show successful interference with tumor cell growth in immunizations of mice. Also in the case of autoimmune diseases and parasitic infections this method was applied, targeting different molecules, which are key mediators in the disease mechanisms. Through the mimotope treatment via the specific antibody production, the disease symptoms could be hampered. This review gives an overview of the use of the mimotope concept and also of related therapeutic trials for the treatment of allergy, cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases.
特异性免疫疗法广泛应用于许多疾病，如过敏、癌症、自身免疫性疾病或寄生虫感染。尽管临床试验表明这些疗法应用成功，但仍有一些缺点阻碍了完全成功。高生产成本和重复给药是实际问题，而可能出现的副作用则是治疗难题。为避免这些问题，应更加强烈地考虑靶标特异性。表位是抗原/过敏原与特异性抗体结合的特定部分，是有用的靶标。为了产生表位特异性疫苗，可以通过生物淘选技术鉴定模拟表位。模拟表位是在结构和免疫学方面模仿表位的小肽。它们能够以主动免疫形式诱导抗原特异性抗体。这些抗体针对天然抗原/过敏原，因此能够阻止疾病的爆发。目前的研究集中在开发模拟表位，以实现表位特异性诱导阻断抗体，例如用于过敏治疗。在癌症治疗中，对模拟表位的研究表明，在小鼠免疫中成功干扰了肿瘤细胞的生长。在自身免疫性疾病和寄生虫感染的情况下也应用了这种方法，针对疾病机制中的不同关键分子。通过模拟表位治疗产生特异性抗体，可以阻碍疾病症状。本综述概述了模拟表位概念的应用以及用于治疗过敏、癌症、自身免疫性疾病和传染病的相关治疗试验。
