Oral Tolerance Development and Maintenance.

The gastrointestinal tract has an abundant mucosal immune system to develop and maintain oral tolerance. The oral route of administration takes advantage of the unique set of immune cells and pathways involved in the induction of oral tolerance. Food allergy results from a loss of oral tolerance toward ingested antigens. Oral immunotherapy is thought to initiate desensitization through interaction of an allergen with mucosal dendritic cells that initiate downstream immune system modulation through regulatory T cells and effector T cells.