Tripped tolerance reaction Can allergies be prevented in the future?

New method for allergy prophylaxis discovered
Millions of people worldwide suffer from allergies. Your body shows an excessive immune response to contact with certain substances, which may be associated with different symptoms depending on the nature of the allergy. In a recent study, scientists at MedUni Vienna have now shown ways in which allergies could be prevented before they occur.

"The results in the animal model are promising and give reason to hope that it could be possible in the future to prevent allergies before they occur - be it by inoculating with the body's own cells or using other vaccination strategies," according to the MedUni Vienna. In the current study, the researchers had succeeded in triggering a tolerance reaction by binding allergens to the body's own white blood cells. The scientists published their results in the journal "EbioMedicine".

Scientists at MedUni Vienna have tested a method that could possibly prevent allergies in the future. (Image: djoronimo / fotolia.com)

Procedure from transplantation medicine
As part of their study, the researchers led by Thomas Wekerle and Ulrike Baranyi from the Department of Surgery and Rudolf Valenta from the Institute for Pathophysiology and Allergy Research of the MedUni Vienna tested the possibilities of allergy prevention with a method originally used in transplantation medicine. This is where the immunological tolerance reaction for the donor organ. In mice, the scientists used the procedure and occupied their white blood cells with the respective allergens (certain proteins, to which the immune system reacts in an allergy). The effect was convincing. The animals "also remained sustainably resistant to the allergy," reports MedUni Vienna.

As part of the process, the cells (white blood cells) are first removed, with the allergen "spiked" and then together with a biologic known from rheumatology (drug abatacept) and an agent of immunosuppression and oncology (sirolimus) back in injected the organism, according to the announcement of the University. Practically like a "Trojan horse" on the cell slumber the so introduced allergen. Upon renewed contact with the allergens such as grass pollen, the body is then immune to the "attack" from the outside.

Lifelong protection against allergies possible?
According to Thomas Wekerle, the lasting effect of the method in the mice arouses the "hope for our vision of a lifelong protection against allergies with only one single vaccine." Although it is too early for use in the clinic and it requires further, years of studies , But the researchers see their results as an important step on the way to preventing allergies. In general, risk groups could first be vaccinated - for example, children whose parents suffer from allergies, explains MedUni Vienna. The goal would be to never let the allergy break out, so that serious consequences such as asthma do not occur. Practically, there is already a map of the allergens. "One knows exactly, which allergens work with an allergy, therefore one could use this, in order to immunize the cells purposefully and to make tolerant," emphasizes the allergy researcher Rudolf Valenta.

According to MedUni Vienna experts, about one in five suffer from allergies in Austria, and the trend is rising. Frequently, hay fever appears first, but it often leads to asthma and can even lead to life-threatening symptoms, according to Valenta. All the more important is the early detection and appropriate treatment. (Fp)