Seminar Abstract: "This presentation will introduce the use of antigen-specific immunotherapy for treatment of autoimmune diseases We will discuss the various immunotherapeutic approaches currently being developed. Our laboratory has defined the rules governing the design of tolerance inducing peptides (TIPs) based on T cell epitopes. We have characterised which antigen presenting cells are targeted by TIPs and the regulatory T cells induced by them. Generation of regulatory cells is governed by novel epigenetic mechanisms. Recently, we have developed a novel workflow for characterisation of antigen-specific human T cells and their use for epitope design. This approach has important implications for the analysis of autoimmune, allergic, infectious diseases and cancers."

Biosketch: David is an immunologist who began his career at NIMR in London working on the CD8+ T-cell response to viruses. In 1986, he received MRC & NMSS funding to work at Stanford University on the role of class II MHC in autoimmune diseases. He later set up a Wellcome Trust funded laboratory in Cambridge. In 1995, he was appointed Chair in Experimental Pathology at Bristol and between 2016 and 2023 was Director of the Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy at the University of Birmingham. His group recently defined the cellular and molecular basis of antigen-specific immunotherapy including definition of the genetic and epigenetic control of the approach. They successfully completed clinical trials of peptide immunotherapy in Multiple Sclerosis and Graves’ hyperthyroid disease. Antigen-specific immunotherapy is designed to improve the safety and efficacy of immunotherapy by specifically targeting the cells involved in allergic and autoimmune diseases.