Suppression de la réponse immunitaire IgE à l'aide d'anticorps spécifiques

Complexes formed by antibodies and antigens have a considerable potential in terms of influencing immune response. Applied to allergy, these complexes have been used to reduce the production of specific IgE antibodies to certain allergens. Thus approximately 400 patients with either asthma or atopic dermatitis have been treated up to now by the injection of such complexes formed using their own antibodies. Such treatment has proved to be free of any adverse reactions and effective in the treatment of both these types of disorder, with a significant reduction in their inflammatory component. Biologically, the injection of these complexes results in a selective reduction in the production of antibodies specific to the allergen concerned, both IgG and IgE, and an increase in the production of corresponding anti-idiotype antibodies. The recently demonstrated efficacy of complexes formed of F (ab')2 antibody fragments has opened up the possibility of treatment in which antibodies are prepared from a pool of donors. The reduction of specific antibodies justifies envisaging the application of the same treatment concept to certain auto-immune diseases, e.g. myasthenia gravis.