Vaccination to prevent type 1 diabetes

Immune-based interventions to treat or prevent autoimmune disorders are opening up entirely novel therapeutic avenues. Presently, systemic immune modulators such as antibodies to cytokines or cell-surface molecules (i.e., costimulators) are undergoing clinical testing or are already in use. The next generation of interventions will function in an antigen-specific way. These strategies are more difficult to design, because successful immunization or vaccination has to be monitored on an individual basis and dose/route/timing considerations play an essential role. Both will be discussed in this chapter and suitable combinatorial approaches will be suggested.