gene therapy could turn off severe
allergies date September 25th 2017
source University of Queensland summary
a single treatment giving lifelong
protection from severe allergies such as
asthma could be made possible by recent
immunology research a single treatment
giving lifelong protection from severe
allergies such as asthma could be made
possible by immunology research at the
University of Queensland a team led by
associate professor ray Steptoe at the
ik diamantina Institute has been able to
turn off the immune response which
causes allergic reaction in animals when
someone has an allergy or asthma flare
up the symptoms they experience results
from immune cells reacting to protein in
the allergen professor Steptoe said the
challenge in asthma and allergies is
that these immune cells known as t-cells
develop a form of immune memory and
become very resistant to treatments we
have now been able wipe the memory of
these t-cells and animals with gene
therapy desensitizing the immune system
so that it tolerates the protein our
work used an experimental asthma
allergen but this research could be
applied to treat those who have severe
allergies to peanuts
bee venom shellfish and other substances
dr. Steptoe said the findings would be
subject to further preclinical
investigation with the next step being
to replicate results using human cells
in the laboratory we take blood stem
cells insert a gene which regulates the
allergen protein and we put that into
the recipient those engineered cells
produce new blood cells that Express the
protein and target specific immune cells
turning off the allergic response dr.
Steptoe said the eventual goal would be
a single injected gene therapy replacing
short-term treatments that target
allergy symptoms with varying degrees of
effectiveness
we haven't quite got it to the point
where it's as simple as getting a flu
jab so we are working on making it
simpler and safer so it could be used
across a wide cross-section of affected
individuals dr. Steptoe said at the
moment the target population might be
those individuals who have severe asthma
or potentially lethal food allergies
doctor step toes research has been
funded by the Asthma Foundation and the
National Health and Medical Research
Council asthma foundation of Queensland
and New South Wales chief executive
officer dr. Peter Anderson said more
than 2 million Australians have asthma
and current statistics show that more
than half of those are regularly
burdened with symptoms of the disease
even though there are effective
treatments available for the vast
majority patients face a number of
obstacles and challenges in their self
management practices
dr. Anderson said the foundation
welcomes the findings of this research
and looks forward to a day in the future
when a safe one-off treatment may be
available that has the potential to
eliminate any experience of asthma in
vulnerable patients
