Could a more effective therapy for this annoying allergy be on the horizon?
Your Back Page scribbler has long been afflicted by random bouts of hay fever.
While there has never a definitive trigger identified for the onset of these fits of explosive sneezing, the bouts are too infrequent to be truly bothersome.
Other sufferers of what the Upstart Crow* delightfully refers to as “the summer snottage” are not so fortunate, however, so any reports of potential remedies for the affliction are compulsory reading. Such as this study, published last week by a team of international researchers in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.
What these boffins have developed is a protype treatment targeting a key hay fever allergen called mugwort pollen which, they claim, effectively neutralises the allergen and blocks the symptoms by acting as a type of “molecular shield”.
The team, led by the Kazakh National Agrarian Research University in Kazakhstan, say they have produced a monoclonal antibody that can be delivered directly to the nose, rather than intravenously.
They say this antibody not only prevents IgE immunoglobin-mediated symptoms from developing, it mayalso reduce inflammation through other mechanisms, such as calming immune cell responses and promoting regulatory pathways.
Mugwort pollen is the most common cause of pollen allergies in central Asia and parts of Europe, where between 10% and 15% of people with hay fever are allergic to it, but, importantly, the research team say their study shows the concept can be extended to other pollen species.
“This is the first time a monoclonal antibody designed to block a specific pollen allergen has been delivered directly into the nose, and been shown to protect against allergy symptoms in the upper and lower airways,” the study’s lead author, Professor Kaissar Tabynov, told media.
“In the future, similar antibodies could be developed for other major pollen allergens, such as ragweed or grass.
“This opens the door to a new generation of precision allergy treatments that are fast-acting, needle-free, and tailored to individual allergen sensitivities.”
It’s important that we point out at this late stage that this antibody had only been proven to work in a mouse study, so it’s likely to be many years before we are likely to see such a product adorning the shelves at Chemist Warehouse, if at all.
Nevertheless, if this proof-of-principal remedy can be successfully upscaled to work on the human level, that would be a medical advance that’s not to be sneezed at.
*Upstart Crow is a comedy series on the life of William Shakespeare, starring David Mitchell. It’s LOL clever and funny and episodes can be found on ABC iView.
Send viewing recommendations and story tips to Holly@medicalrepublic.com.au.
