Page 232 - Binder2

4.7 Case Study: Tolerizing Vaccines Through
Edible Exposure

For decades, vaccines have followed a well-trodden path:
inject a small piece of a pathogen—or mimic it—and train
the immune system to respond with force. This strategy has
saved millions of lives and remains a cornerstone of public
health.

But what if we want the opposite?

What if the immune system is attacking something it
should ignore—like pancreatic beta cells in Type 1
diabetes, myelin in multiple sclerosis, or dietary antigens in
celiac disease?

In these cases, we don’t want to activate the immune
system. We want to re-educate it. We want tolerizing
vaccines—designed not to provoke, but to teach the
immune system to stand down. Instead of presenting
something for the immune system to target, we’re
presenting something for the immune system to tolerate.

And in that effort, edible biologics may hold the key.

The Problem with Current Immune Therapies

Today, autoimmune diseases are largely treated with broad
immunosuppression—blunt-force drugs that reduce
inflammation, but also leave patients vulnerable to
infection, cancer, and long-term complications. These
drugs are reactive, not preventive. And they do nothing to
correct the underlying immunologic error: mistaking self
for enemy.

230