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takyon writes:

Study: Vaccine Suppresses Peanut Allergies in Mice

Just three monthly doses of a nasal vaccine protected the mice from allergic reactions upon exposure to peanut, according to research from the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center at the University of Michigan.

U-M researchers have spent nearly two decades developing a vaccine agent and have recently translated this work to the development of a vaccine to treat food allergies. In the new study, immunizing peanut allergic mice can redirect how immune cells responded to peanuts in allergic mice.

The new approach activates a different type of immune response that prevents allergic symptoms.

"We're changing the way the immune cells respond upon exposure to allergens," says lead author Jessica O'Konek, Ph.D., a research investigator at the food allergy center. "Importantly, we can do this after allergy is established, which provides for potential therapy of allergies in humans."

"By redirecting the immune responses, our vaccine not only suppresses the response but prevents the activation of cells that would initiate allergic reactions."

Nanoemulsion adjuvant–driven redirection of T_H2 immunity inhibits allergic reactions in murine models of peanut allergy (DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2018.01.042) (DX)

Related: Peanut Allergy Cured in Majority of Children in Immunotherapy Trial
Animal Study Shows How To Retrain The Immune System To Ease Food Allergies

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