Scientists at the University of Queensland in Australia have found a way to "defuse" the immune responses of certain serious allergies, such as asthma. The results, published in the journal JCI Insight, suggest that this is possible by "clearing" the memory of immune cells, known as T cells.
These cells form a memory that is resistant to treatments. But through gene therapy, the team of researchers has been able to desensitize the immune system and provide permanent protection.
"When someone has an allergy, such as an asthma attack, the symptoms they experience are the result of immune cells reacting to allergen protein," explains Rey Steptoe, director of research.
"Our work has been done using an asthma allergen, but this research could be applied to treating people with other allergies," he says.
In their research, experts took stem cells from the blood, and then "inserted" a gene to regulate the allergic protein. They found that the memory of allergies and their consequent immune response could be erased; They do not stop the reaction in itself, but the disease.
At the moment, the research is in the preclinical phase, which means that it has not been tested in humans. The team, instead, has applied specific allergens to asthma in mice, and was found to be able to prevent allergic reactions. The next step will be to test it with human cells in the laboratory.
Over time, scientists hope that people with potentially lethal allergies can be treated with a simple injection, as if it were the flu, giving permanent protection. This could replace the short-term treatments used by allergy sufferers today.
Reference:
IFL Science
I'm a big allergic and I'll try those tips thanks a lot for sharing them ;)
While I think the holy grail is to figure out why so many people these days develop allergies and be able to prevent allergy development in the first place, anything that can reliably and effectively help control allergic symptoms will be a huge boon to the many allergy sufferers in the world.
Thanks for sharing this article - it's good to know that researchers are making breakthroughs in this field.
@arielpr thanks for the great article. @sizzlingmonkeys I totally agree. I live in Sacramento and I have terrible allergies to pollen and pretty much everything in the air. It's crazy because I only got these allergies later on in my life. I've always wondered why that is... why is that we develop them... there must be something to help control the symptoms or prevent them.
That would be really good. I could use something like that this year. My allergies have been horrible
I've got a secret recipe that helps. Google maxe's famous butthash