(1)Arthritis Unit, Department of Veterans
Affairs Medical Center, 4150 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA
94121, USA
Abstract
Abstract Advances in our understanding of the
mechanisms involved in immune activation and immune tolerance have
laid the foundation for the development of new strategies for treating
autoimmune diseases. In particular, the dissection of the two-signal
process of T-cell activation has identified distinct targets that
may provide a means of blocking pathological autoimmune responses
without causing sustained blockade of protective immune responses.
These strategies have shown great promise in animal models for autoimmune
diseases, and they are currently the focus of clinical investigation
in several autoimmune diseases of humans.
