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Paediatric Pulmonology and Allergology
2004 April, Vol. VII, No. 1 (pp.2475-2482)
Oral tolerance
Vaidotas Urbonas
We as other living organisms contact with a huge amount of allergens. They enter our bodies mostly through the gut. Here live also a lot of different kinds of bacteria’s (pathogenic and non-pathogenic). Therefore, the mucosal immune system must discern between an appropriate systemic immune response to harmful foreign antigens and a muted or no response to foreign antigens that are benign. A better understanding of the mechanisms of oral tolerance is essential to our appreciation and management of disease states such as gastrointestinal food allergy, inflammatory bowel disease, and autoimmune disease and in devising strategies for improving oral vaccine responses against life-threatening infections.