Mac develops cat-allergy vaccine

Goodbye itching, watering eyes and sneezing. McMaster University researchers have developed a vaccine which successfully treats people with an allergy to cats - without the side effects.

Traditionally, frequent allergy shots have been considered the most effective way to bring relief - other than getting rid of the family pet - for the eight to 10 per cent of the population allergic to cats.

Both options - one difficult and costly, the other troubling - may now be tossed aside thanks to the work of immunologist Mark Larché, a professor in the Department of Medicine in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and Canada Research Chair in Allergy & Immune Tolerance.

Building on research he's conducted for the past 10 years in Canada and Britain, Larché and his research team have developed a vaccine which is effective and safe with almost no side effects. The research is published in a recent issue of the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, a leading journal in the allergy field.

The researchers took one protein (molecule) that cats secrete on their fur which causes the majority of allergic problems. Using blood samples from 100 patient volunteers allergic to cats, they deconstructed the molecule and identified short regions within the protein which activate T-cells (helper cells that fight infection) in the immune system.

Using the amino acid code for the whole protein, researchers made synthetic versions of these regions. For the cat allergy vaccine, they found seven peptides (strings of amino acids). "And those synthetic peptides are what we mix together to make the vaccine," said Larché. "We picked the peptides that would work in as much of the population as possible."

Comments

[Lee Edward McIlmoyle]

Ah, now if only there were a way for me to test it without having a needle stuck in me. *sigh*