Feline groovy
Researchers at McMaster come up with vaccine for those allergic to cats.
Good-bye itching, watering eyes and sneezing. Immunologist Mark Larche and his research team have developed a vaccine that is effective and safe with almost no side effects.
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).
“Those synthetic peptides are what we mix together to make the vaccine,” said Larche. “We picked the peptides that would work in as much of the population as possible.
Known as “peptide immunotherapy”, a low dose of the vaccine is given into the skin. Initially, four to eight doses a year may be required, but the side effects of the traditional allergy shots do not arise, Larche said. The optimal dose will be determined in phase three clinical trials which are getting underway with a much larger group of cat allergy sufferers.
Their work is published in the January issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
The development of a vaccine to treat people allergic to cats is the first in a line of vaccines developed with Adiga Life Sciences, a company established at McMaster in 2008. It is a joint venture between McMaster University and Circassia Ltd., a UK-based biotech company. Adiga and McMaster are now collaborating on research into the use of peptide immunotherapy for house dust mite, ragweed, grass, birch tree and moulds.
