Immune Privilege

Certain sites of the human body have immune privilege, meaning that they are able to tolerate the introduction of antigens without eliciting an inflammatory immune response.

The eye is a model example of a site with immune privilege. Immune privilege is important in the eye to protect it from destructive inflammation that may impair vision. Immune privilege in the eye is attributed to various mechanisms: lack of lymphatic drainage, low expression of MHC (major histocompatibility complex) molecules, and local production of immunosuppressive cytokines among others.

Research of immune privilege may lead to various medical breakthroughs. Once scientists understand how to induce immunological tolerance, and how exactly it works, it could be possible to disrupt the immune privilege seen in tumours and can also be used to prevent graft rejection by promoting immune privilege.

Sources:

https://www.nature.com/articles/mi200827

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2195673/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/immune-privilege

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