Oral tolerance

Abstract

The phenomenon of decreased systemic Immune response to orally administered antigens is known as oral tolerance (OT). Though It was anecdotically described many years ago, the mechanisms and potential applications of OT are still mostly speculative. Specificity and thymus-dependence are among its most remarkable features. OT is manifested by the absence of systemic antibodies, of delayed type hypersensitivity and of proliferate responses toward the specific antigen. Potential mechanisms of OT have been grouped in three types, namely: Immunologic, gastrointestinal and individual. The most Important of the immunologic mechanisms might be the existence of counter-suppressive cells but their intimate functioning has not been thoroughly elucidated. The study of OT opens a wide research field with Implications for the immunoprophylaxis and Immunotherapy of many diseases.