Permanent protection for the most serious allergies? Now it seems possible thanks to the research carried out by the University of Queensland (USA) and whose experiments with rodents have been effective in ‘deactivating’ the immune response that causes the allergic reaction in the body. The study has been published in the journal JCI Insight.
“When someone has an allergy or asthma flare, the symptoms they experience are the result of immune cells reacting to the protein in the allergen, ” says Ray Steptoe of the Diamond Institute at the University of Queensland and leader of the work.
These hypersensitivity reactions, such as those caused by animal hair, certain foods especially nuts, fish and shellfish, insect bites, pollen or plants in general, is a challenge, since the immune cells that react , specifically T cells, develop a form of immune memory, which is why they become very resistant to treatments.
Researchers have managed to ‘clean’ that memory of T cells in a group of rodents thanks to gene therapy, causing the immune system to be insensitive and not react to the protein , but to tolerate it.
“Our work used an experimental asthma allergen, but this research could be applied to treat those with severe allergies to peanuts, bee venom, and other substances,” says Steptoe.
These conclusions will be followed by more pre-clinical research, and the next step will be to replicate the results using human cells in the laboratory. “We take stem cells from the blood, we insert a gene that regulates the allergenic protein and we put it into the receptor. These engineered cells will generate new blood cells that express the protein and target specific immune cells, deactivating the allergic response,” he clarifies. Steptoe.
“Right now, the target population could represent those people who have severe asthma or life-threatening food allergies,” he concludes.
The ultimate goal is to get an injection that serves as a single, permanent treatment for all allergies.
Reference: Jane AL-Kouba et al, Allergen-encoding bone marrow transfer inactivates allergic T cell responses, alleviating airway inflammation, JCI Insight (2017). DOI: 10.1172 / jci.insight.85742
