To at least improve the daily life of patients – there are nearly 4 million in France – a vaccine against asthma is being studied in animal models.
- Vaccine induced long-lasting antibody production in mice
- There are nearly 4 million asthmatics in France, most often related to allergies
Will we soon be able to protect ourselves from asthma, a disabling and chronic disease that affects nearly 4 million people in France, thanks to a vaccine? Experiments carried out on an animal model (mice) have shown their effectiveness against allergic asthma and suggest that the product developed could at least reduce the severity of symptoms in patients. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
It is most often exposure to various allergens that causes asthma, through the production of type 2 antibodies and cytokines (IL-4 and IL-13) that trigger chain reactions in the airways. Patients are treated by inhaling corticosteroids during the crisis and injecting monoclonal antibodies, which are fairly restrictive treatments.
A vaccine tested on animals
To find a vaccine that would provide protection against at least the most severe effects of the disease, teams from INSERM and the French company Néovacs coupled recombinant cytokines IL-4 and IL-13 with a non-pathogenic carrier protein already used in many other vaccines.
In animal models, such a vaccine generates long-lasting production of antibodies acting against the cytokines IL-4 and IL-13: six weeks after the first injection, 90% of the animals still showed antibodies capable of neutralizing the action of cytokines; and after a year, 60% of the antibodies were still present. The results are therefore very encouraging, especially since, beyond the production of antibodies, this vaccine also greatly reduced, in a model of asthma linked to an allergy to house dust mites, the production of mucus clogging the airways.
Find below the program Questions Aux Experts on the theme “Living with asthma”:
.