THE DIAGNOSIS, PREVENTION, AMELIORATION AND/OR TREATMENT OF DISTURBED IMMUNE FUNCTION INDUCED BY DISTURBED LIPID METABOLISM

摘要

Complement is recognized as an important, humoral defense system involved in the innate (nonspecific) recognition and elimination of microbial invaders, other foreign particles or molecules, and antigen-antibody complexes from the body. The present invention makes use of the surprising notion that the handling of lipids by the body, rather than its antimicrobial activity, is the primary and most ancient function of the complement system. Consequently, atherosclerosis as observed in disorders associated with disturbed lipid metabolism must be ascribed to either genetic or acquired defects in ancient (activatory and/or regulatory) complement components. The surprising notion is of considerable consequence to the treatment of diseases of the immune system and/or an infectious, autoimmune, neoplastic and/or hematological disease related to complement-mediated lipid metabolism and/or an underlying and/or related disease since lipids and immune complexes share the same transport pathway in the human body. Other implications of the same invention, based on the notion that lipoproteins and lymphocytes share the lymph pathway to arrive in the blood circulation, are that the lipid metabolizing system may be employed to effectively manipulate the immune system. Based on this aspect of the invention, novel oral vaccination and oral immunomodulation strategies are introduced as well.