Allergies are involved in half of the cases of asthma, a chronic disease that affects 4 million French people. While the Mediterranean rim turns “red” for a high risk of allergy to cypress and juniper pollen at the beginning of March, Toulouse scientists publish in the journal Allergy a study which opens the way for a trial vaccine in humans.
Soon an allergy vaccine? Scientists from Inserm, CNRS, Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier University, Institut Pasteur and Neovacs have just taken a big step in this direction, with a study published in the journal Allergy which paves the way for a clinical trial, that is to say in humans.
The stakes are high: with the end of winter, the first crises are shaking the inhabitants of the Mediterranean rim, which has gone on red alert to the Cupressaceae, junipers and cypresses which spread extremely irritating pollen. The website of RNSA (National Allergy Surveillance Network) gives the alert. Knowing that allergies are on the front line in the onset of chronic asthma: “Allergic asthma represents regarding 50% of asthma cases, a chronic disease that affects regarding 4 million people in France”, reminds Inserm.
Hope for food allergies and atopic dermatitis
How does the Toulouse vaccine work? It targets the overproduction of antibodies triggered by exposure to allergens, including dust mites, a “phenomenon that leads to a cascade of reactions resulting in hyperresponsiveness of the airways, overproduction of mucus and an excessively high level of white blood cells in the airways”, indicates Inserm.
In vaccinated animals, “a significant effect on asthma symptoms was observed”.
For Laurent Reber, research director at Inserm, “This study provides proof of concept for the efficacy of the vaccine in neutralizing human proteins that play a key role in allergic asthma”. And open “a little more the way to the organization of clinical trials” (in man)
These results are all the more “promising” what “Three months following the injection, the effectiveness of the vaccine does not weaken”.
Considered “long-term”, the development of this vaccine will be useful not only for people with asthma, but, beyond, the “simple” allergic phenomenon and the pathologies it covers, atopic dermatitis and food allergies in particular.
