How to Distract Your Antibodies
October 4th 2006 03:24
How to Distract Your Antibodies
The ‘hygiene hypothesis’ is an idea that modern life is just so clean that the immune system has little experience with disease and goes for potentially harmless things like grass pollen. Hence we have hay fever, which in this view, is a recent phenomenon brought on by our excessive cleaning habits.
Cytos Biotechnology of Zurich, Switzerland, has developed a drug that it calls CYT003-QbG10 (and hopefully they have a nickname) which fools the body into thinking it is being attacked by mycobacteria. This form of bacteria is rarely around today due to our stricter hygiene. This ‘attack’ occupies the immune system, aiming to protect the body from the bacteria rather than producing allergic reactions to less harmful things (such as pollen).
The immune system is dominated by T-helper 1 cells. As well as stimulating an immune response to fight the mycobacteria, T-helper 1 cells also suppress levels of T-helper 2 cells, which have been blamed for the inappropriate reactions against allergens when they dominate the immune system.
A preliminary trial of 10 has revealed that those with hay fever had their symptoms completely wiped out. After a period of six weeks of injections, their sensitivity to pollen reduced a hundredfold. Cytos claims that the patients continued to be without symptoms for the following 8 months, but is unsure whether the therapy would give permanent results. Cytos is now testing the drug in over 100 people with hay fever, house dust-mite allergy or atopic dermatitis. The results are due in the first half of next year.
Laura Ross Brunet at London-based SR Pharma, a company also developing treatments for allergies, says that SR Pharma will focus on amplifying the role of T regulatory cells, which are seen as major coordinators of immune responses. "We believe that a treatment to induce T regulatory cells will provide curative therapy for these conditions," she says.
Original article in the New Scientist.
Image in the Public Domain
The ‘hygiene hypothesis’ is an idea that modern life is just so clean that the immune system has little experience with disease and goes for potentially harmless things like grass pollen. Hence we have hay fever, which in this view, is a recent phenomenon brought on by our excessive cleaning habits.
Cytos Biotechnology of Zurich, Switzerland, has developed a drug that it calls CYT003-QbG10 (and hopefully they have a nickname) which fools the body into thinking it is being attacked by mycobacteria. This form of bacteria is rarely around today due to our stricter hygiene. This ‘attack’ occupies the immune system, aiming to protect the body from the bacteria rather than producing allergic reactions to less harmful things (such as pollen).
Pollen. Every hayfever sufferer's nightmare.
The immune system is dominated by T-helper 1 cells. As well as stimulating an immune response to fight the mycobacteria, T-helper 1 cells also suppress levels of T-helper 2 cells, which have been blamed for the inappropriate reactions against allergens when they dominate the immune system.
A preliminary trial of 10 has revealed that those with hay fever had their symptoms completely wiped out. After a period of six weeks of injections, their sensitivity to pollen reduced a hundredfold. Cytos claims that the patients continued to be without symptoms for the following 8 months, but is unsure whether the therapy would give permanent results. Cytos is now testing the drug in over 100 people with hay fever, house dust-mite allergy or atopic dermatitis. The results are due in the first half of next year.
Laura Ross Brunet at London-based SR Pharma, a company also developing treatments for allergies, says that SR Pharma will focus on amplifying the role of T regulatory cells, which are seen as major coordinators of immune responses. "We believe that a treatment to induce T regulatory cells will provide curative therapy for these conditions," she says.
Original article in the New Scientist.
Image in the Public Domain
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Comment by The Daily Sonnet
The Daily Sonnet
Lots of Sonnets
Comment by RachDegab
I doubt that "the drug is just replacing one allergic reaction with another" - that would be a bit stupid! Im sure the nerdy scientists wouldnt do that.. or maybe??