Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Cincinnati Children’s may have developed a vaccine for seasonal allergies and food allergies. As a person with severe seasonal allergies, I am jumping for joy right now.
Scientists have developed a new mRNA-based allergy vaccine that could one day eliminate the concept of allergies. Or, at least that’s the eventual goal one day down the line. This vaccine will train your immune system to go on the defensive the moment it gets a whiff of pollen or, say, peanut dust.
That’s the short version. And now for the slightly more complicated version of how it works: Scientists modified the mRNA tech used in COVID shots to carry instructions for fake allergens. Your body reads the script, produces the allergen-like proteins, and…doesn’t freak out.
Instead, your immune system learns to recognize these proteins as non-threats, avoiding the histamine reactions that lead to swelling, mucus, and, sometimes, death.
So far, this allergy vaccine has only been tested on mice, but those rodents responded well to the vaccine. They didn’t react when exposed to allergens, produced fewer white blood cells tied to allergic responses, and had less lung inflammation and mucus production.
They even developed antibodies that protected against airway narrowing, which is abundantly helpful in conditions like asthma.
An mRNA Vaccine That Could End Seasonal and Food Allergies Is in Development
Traditional allergy treatments involve pills, regular shots if they are severe enough, or simply avoiding everything that could cause a reaction. For some allergies, it is an exhausting task.
The mRNA approach is as close to a one-and-done solution as possible. Next, the researchers will test not only the vaccine’s human track record, but also the number of doses required to take effect and the duration of protection following a single shot.
All this is to say that a miracle mRNA allergy vaccine is still a ways off, but it’s looking promising.
Another nearly miraculous part of it is that it can be custom-built to target specific allergens. If you’re allergic to ragweed, they can make a vaccine just for you. If you’re allergic to shrimp or even gluten, there’ll be a vaccine specifically for you so you can get back to eating all the shrimp Po’ boy sandwiches you want.
There might even be a vaccine for asthma to come out of all this.
Drew Weissman, one of the study’s leads and a Nobel Prize winner, puts it simply: “We saw mRNA vaccines save lives during the pandemic, and as the most-tested type of vaccine in history, we know it’s the safest and most effective vaccine ever created.
“We are deeply committed to continuing to uncover the potential of this technology.”
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