Intravenous infusion of protein/peptide antigens linked to lymphocytes with ethylene carbodiimide (EDC) is a highly efficient method for inducing peripheral, antigen-specific T cell tolerance for the treatment of autoimmune disease. Likewise, red blood cells (RBC) can be used to deliver protein/peptide antigens for treatment of autoimmune disease. EDC alone to couple proteins or peptides to RBCs grossly damages RBC membrane and reduces resistance to lytic agents. A method using EDC, with N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS), eliminates damage to RBC's in the current invention. RBC's can be collected with a simple blood draw versus lymphocyte collection by apheresis.
AURI #2016-027