Immune Tolerance in Autoimmune Disease

Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system mistakenly flags certain cells in the body as foreign invaders. The resulting attack can cause irreparable damage to critical organs and tissues. For example, in multiple sclerosis, it’s the myelin coating that insulates nerve cells; in lupus, it can be any number of organs or systems that are damaged. Currently, the primary methods to treat patients with autoimmune disease utilize immune suppressors, which help reduce the inflammatory attack on tissues but can put patients at higher risk for developing infections.

Immune tolerance therapies are designed to reprogram the immune system to stop the disease-causing immune attack on self-tissue while maintaining the immune system's ability to fight infection. The Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) is also working to identify biomarkers of immune tolerance that may help to identify the right treatment course for future patients.                        

This section contains a list of ITN's autoimmune clinical trials that are currently enrolling participants. To see all of ITN's active and completed studies in autoimmune disease, please visit For Researchers.