The effectiveness of current hay fever vaccines can be improved by adding sugar molecules, finds a new study. The findings of this study are published in the The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Using sugar molecules, //researchers from the University of Copenhagen have developed a new vaccine for hay fever that may reduce treatment times and increase the effectiveness of treatments. The vaccine, which is still at the earliest research stage, has been tested on mice. The method can potentially also be used to develop different forms of vaccines, for example, vaccines for autoimmune disorders.
‘Allergy vaccines can be based upon sugar molecules; this particular step can help them optimize the proteins making them more effective and fast-working. ’
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Allergy has become a common disease, and hundreds of millions around the world suffer from allergic rhinitis, or hay fever, with discomforts like colds, fatigue, and red, itchy eyes. Now researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences have come one step closer to putting an end to this development. The researchers have developed a vaccine that prevents the development of allergy in mice. It is based on specific sugar molecules that may increase the effect of treatments and reduce treatment times. 'We believe the current form of vaccination can be optimized. Initially, our goal was to create an artificial production of the proteins on which allergy vaccines are based and to optimize the proteins making them more effective and fast-working. We did that using sugar molecules. In the long term our goal is to reduce the treatment time by half, while at the same time lowering the treatment dose', says the senior author of the study, Professor Hans Wandall from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Copenhagen Center for Glycomics.
Today we have vaccines for some forms of allergy, including hay fever. Treatment in Denmark usually takes three to five years and involves regular injections. Unfortunately, the vaccines do not work on everyone. Some are cured, others get fewer symptoms, while some experience no effect at all. Another treatment option against grass pollen allergy, for example, is an oral lyophilisate to be taken daily for three years.
Birch as Test Allergen
The researchers have tested the new vaccine, which was administered as injections, on mice and in so-called in vitro tests on human cells. They used birch as the test allergen. Allergen is the name of a substance that can cause allergy when a person comes into contact with or ingests it. Several of the allergens - causing for example hay fever - are so-called glycoproteins. The researchers attached to sugar molecules to the allergen to try to improve the effect of vaccination.
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The researchers are seeking to further develop the vaccine to make it effective enough to be used on human allergy patients. The method - optimizing a vaccine using sugar molecules - can potentially also be used to optimize treatments for other diseases. Instead of coupling sugar molecules with allergens, the researchers may simply couple it with different proteins.
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Source-Eurekalert