The immune tolerance network: the "Holy Grail" comes to the clinic.

The concept of reprogramming immune cells in a way that would eliminate pathogenic responses while preserving normal immune function has excited immunologists for decades. Often promised but never fully realized, these highly specific tolerogenic therapies would replace current immunosuppressive regimens and their often debilitating side effects. It now seems that the more detailed understanding of the molecular events associated with T-cell recognition and activation may provide unprecedented opportunities to test these approaches in humans. As a result of these advances, the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) was created to identify and promote the use of these tolerogenic therapies in the clinic. Funded by a $144 million contract from the National Institutes of Health (in collaboration with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International), the ITN is examining new and innovative therapeutic approaches and bioassays to treat a range of autoimmune diseases, asthma, allergy, and rejection in kidney and islet transplantation.