If the desensitization treatment makes it possible to better tolerate the pollens at the origin of a seasonal rhinitis, it unfortunately does not cure. Also, to get rid of hay fever once and for all – and other types of allergies: dust mites, certain foods, etc. –, several teams of researchers around the world are trying to develop anti-allergy vaccines!
Among these groups, that of Pierre Bruhns at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. “In collaboration with the team of Laurent Reber, at the Toulouse Institute of Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases (INFINITy), and the biotechnology company Neovacs, we are developing not one, but two candidate vaccines which could help treat a large part of the allergic, permanently“, enthuses the researcher. To understand, remember that allergies are associated with a abnormal production of particular immune molecules : IgE antibodies, which specifically recognize the offending pollen(s), and interleukins IL-4 and IL-13, which promote the synthesis of these IgEs. Hence the idea of developingon the one hand, a vaccine capable of stimulating the production of antibodies specifically blocking IL-4 and -13; and, on the other hand, a product intended for it, to promote the production of antibodies capable of neutralizing IgE“.
During work published in 2021 in the journal NatureCommunications, the researchers tested the anti-IL-4 and IL-13 product in mice. And bingo! It induced a lasting production of antibodies directed specifically against IL-4 and IL-13: more than a year later, 60% of mice were still protected. “In humans, we think boosters will be needed every 2 or 5 years“, believes Pierre Bruhns. However, it remains to confirm these encouraging results in patients.”Neovacs is in the process of developing adapted vaccine doses which could make it possible to launch a first clinical study as early as 2024“, confides the researcher. Called phase I, this trial will constitute the first of the four stages of clinical evaluation necessary for the marketing of a treatment. Normally having to cover a few dozen people, it will aim to ensure that the product has no serious adverse effects and will analyze certain biological response criteria.
What are the risks ?
In fact, immunizing against IL-4 and -13 or IgE could not be completely risk-free… And for good reason: these molecules are also involved in the normal functioning of our immunity, and more specifically in the response against parasites. . Yes, but “treatments with monoclonal antibodies precisely targeting IgE where the IL-4 and IL-13 pathways have already been used for several years in patients with severe asthma… However, no serious consequences have been reported to date“, retorts Pierre Bruhns. According to the researcher, if all goes well, the vaccine against IL-4 and IL-13 could be available in 2030.
