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AT A GLANCE Project Information
Project Title: ALLERVACC novel-type vaccine against allergy
Project Objective: The prevalence of allergies has grown into an epidemic, affecting hundreds of millions of people, particularly children. The socio- economic impact is immense and current therapies are primarily based on symptomatic relief. We have developed a concept for a novel type of vaccine for the treatment of food allergic diseases, ALLERVACC.
Veterinary institute
ALLERVACC is a fusion protein consisting of an allergen of choice bound to a ligand that induces immunological tolerance. Here, the allergen will drive the vaccine to the cells that need to be suppressed in food allergy, while the ligand will induce tolerance by anergy or apoptosis in these cells. Overall, this induces immunological tolerance to the allergen
Project Duration and Timing: 2013-2016
Project Funding: Research Council of Norway
Project Partners: • Oslo University Hospital • The Norwegian Institute of Public Health • Kjeller Innovation
Creating this type of vaccine involves
taking the DNA of a specific allergen and a ligand that is known to modulate the human immune system. These are amplified by PCR and then joined together, after which the product is produced by non-pathological E. coli bacteria. The vaccine is then purified using His-tag purification, and tested for its effectiveness via in vitro studies with blood from individuals with the food allergy. Following initial work in which
results from skin-prick and blood tests
showed success in tolerance towards tropomyosin,
inducing the
main allergen of shrimp, the project is now focusing on vaccines for peanut allergy and house dust mite allergy. “Peanut allergy was chosen for its severity, while house dust mite allergy was chosen because it is very common,”
explains project
coordinator Eliann Egaas. The patented vaccination technique,
named ALLERVACC, works by binding the allergen in question to a ligand to form a fusion protein. The allergen
www.projectsmagazine.eu.com
brings the vaccine to the cells in the body that need to be suppressed, after which the ligand induces non- responsiveness or apoptosis in them. This leads to a suppression of the acute reaction of mast cells and basophils, and a specific deletion of specific B-cells and plasma cells and concomitant drop in specific IgE levels towards the allergen. Altogether, this induces immunological tolerance to the allergen. “No vaccine for food allergy is yet
on the market”, says Dooper, scientific leader of ALLERVACC. “It is an entirely new concept, and can be applied to other protein allergen- based diseases simply by attaching the
appropriate allergen to the
ligand.” The researchers have now started experimental work on animals, working in collaboration with the Institute of Public Health in Oslo to use a mouse model to test the efficacy of the peanut allergy vaccine. If the outcome of the current studies is positive, clinical studies will be the next step.
★ 23 MAIN CONTACT
Maaike Dooper Senior scientists Dr. Maaike Dooper and Dr. Eliann Egaas have been active members in a group working with food allergy issues for more than a decade. With the Norwegian Veterinary Institute as a center, leading Norwegian scientists and clinicians advised the authorities, manufacturers and public in food safety issues concerning food allergy, and analytical methods for the major food allergens in food matrixes were developed. The current project is a spring- off from a former project on a vaccine against shrimp allery. The latter has not yet been commercialized.
Contact: Tel: +47 98694319 Email:
maaike.dooper@
vetinst.no Web:
Toxinology.no
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