Immune rebalancing by oral immunotherapy: A novel method for getting the immune system back on track

Abstract

Immune modulating treatments are often associated with immune suppression or an opposing anti‐inflammatory paradigm. As such, there is a risk of exposing patients to infections and malignancies. Contrarily, eliciting only mild immune modulation can be insufficient for alleviating immune‐mediated damage. Oral immunotherapy is a novel approach that uses the inherent ability of the gut immune system to generate signals that specifically suppress inflammation at affected sites, without inducing generalized immune suppression. Oral immunotherapy is being developed as a method to rebalance systemic immunity and restore balance, getting it back on track, rather than pushing the immune response too much or too little in opposing directions. Here, I review recent preclinical and clinical data examining the technique and describe its primary advantages.

Comprehensive Analysis of Fecal Microbiome and Metabolomics in Hepatic Fibrosis Rats Reveal Hepatoprotective Effects of Yinchen Wuling Powder From the Host-Microbial Metabolic Axis

“…Sphingolipids (SLs), as a class of bioactive lipids, are the main structural components of the cell membrane ( Kraft, 2017 ). SLs mainly include ceramide, sphingosine and sphingosine-1-phosphate, which participate in the occurrence and development of liver diseases by regulating cell proliferation and differentiation, gene expression and apoptosis ( Ilan, 2019 ). Studies have shown that liver injury can lead to the disturbance of sphingosine metabolism and significant changes of the related substances ( Acunha et al, 2018 ).…”

Steroid-mediated liver steatosis is CD1d-dependent while steroid-induced liver necrosis, inflammation, and metabolic changes are CD1d-independent: A dichotomy between steatosis and steatohepatitis

“…The present data support CD1d + lymphocyte plasticity which underlines the differences noted between the different models. NKT cells were shown to be either useful or associated with liver damage under different conditions in an environment-and/or disease-dependent manner 47,48 . GC treatment alleviates immunologically incongruous disorders, suggesting it is associated with a " ne tuning" of immune responses by altering NKT-plasticity 48,49 , and this effect may be CD1d-mediated 50,51 .…”

A digital health platform for assisting the diagnosis and monitoring of COVID-19 progression: An adjuvant approach for augmenting the antiviral response and mitigating the immune-mediated target organ damage

“…The gut provides a platform for generating immune signals that impact the systemic immune system 95 , 96 , 97 . Adjuvants, including non-absorbable compounds, have been used to modulate the intestinal immune signals in several preclinical and clinical trials using non-absorbable compounds 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 .…”

“…The gut provides a platform for generating immune signals that impact the systemic immune system 95 , 96 , 97 . Adjuvants, including non-absorbable compounds, have been used to modulate the intestinal immune signals in several preclinical and clinical trials using non-absorbable compounds 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 . Three types of adjuvants, namely glycosphingolipids, low-dose colchicine, and hyperimmune colostrum that target the gut immune system have been proposed to augment the antiviral immune response and mitigate immune-mediated target organ damage in patients with COVID-19.…”