Health


Allergic reactions to food represent a major and growing medical, social and economic problem worldwide. Researchers Maaike Dooper and Eliann Egaas of the Norwegian Veterinary Institute have devised a potential vaccine for food allergies that uses a fusion protein comprised of a ligand and the relevant allergen


vaccine against allergy


ALLERVACC – A novel type of


The number of reported food allergies has increased in recent years, with hundreds of millions of people affected, particularly children. Up to six per cent of small children and four per cent of adults have a confirmed allergic reaction to basic foods. Food anaphylaxis is now the leading cause of anaphylactic reactions treated in emergency departments


in Westernised countries,


and as yet no treatment exists – avoiding the relevant allergen is the only defence. However, inspired by an experimental vaccine against cancer, Maaike Dooper


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“Peanut allergy was chosen for its severity, while house dust mite allergy was chosen because it is very common”


realised she could potentially use the same method to create a vaccine against IgE-mediated allergies. “The structure used in the cancer vaccine was quite complex, so we simplified the structure


allowing the protein to be expressed by bacteria,” says Dooper. “The vaccine we created looked very promising, and we are now continuing this work into its second phase.”


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