Allergy

Allergy is an abnormal, exaggerated immune reaction to normally harmless substances (e.g. proteins from pollens, or food). The term “allergy” was introduced about 100 years ago by the Austrian physician Clemens von Pirquet to distinguish immune responses that are harmful to the host from a physiological state of protective immunity.

In its most common form – IgE mediated (or type I) hypersensitivity – allergy affects more than 25% of the population in industrialized countries. It has been listed among the 4 most important diseases worldwide and is considered a major public health problem.

The allergic response is directed against various environmental proteins (allergens) and manifests clinically as allergic rhinitis (hay fever), allergic asthma, food allergy, allergic skin inflammation, ocular allergy and anaphylaxis. Immunologically, it is characterized by generation of allergen specific IgE antibodies and a T_H2-specific cytokine profile.  

Type I Allergic Reaction

Allergy Therapy / SIT / Recombinant Allergens

There is strong evidence, that untreated allergies tend to progress from mild (e.g. rhinitis/hay fever) to severe (e.g. asthma) forms of the disease. This progression is also referred to as the “allergic march”. Despite that, even today more than 95% of treated allergic patients receive antiinflammatory treatment which cannot stop the allergic march because it suppresses allergic symptoms but leaves the disease unmodified. Only allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT) has been successfully demonstrated to be a disease-modifying allergy treatment. Conventionally, natural allergen extracts are administered subcutaneously  or orally - usually over a period of 2-3 years. This way the immune system is trained to tolerate the allergen.

Although SIT has been used as a clinically effective therapy for allergy since 1911, its broad development and adoption as a global treatment has been limited by several disadvantages. Above all variability in safety and clinical efficacy resulting from a lack of standardization of natural allergen extracts .  

Current Developments in SIT: Recombinant Allergens and Allergen Derivatives

Recombinant-DNA technology opened up completely new possibilities for allergy diagnosis and therapy, making the individual disease eliciting allergen molecules available in pure form. Recombinant allergens have been used to establish diagnostic tests which allow to determine the allergen specific molecular reactivity profile of patients, they have been used to elucidate the mechanisms of allergy and SIT, and to develop improved forms of allergy therapy. Today, several clinical trials using recombinant allergens or allergen derivatives as the active ingredients of SIT are being undertaken. Biomay and its network partners have been part of this exciting development fom the very beginning. 

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