Making food allergies a thing of the past

Immunology research at The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute may ultimately render persistent food allergies to the history books as a single treatment could give life-long protection from severe allergies. Led by Associate Professor Ray Steptoe, the research team ‘turned off’ the immune response which causes allergic reaction in animals.

An allergic response is the body’s immune cells reacting to a protein in an allergen. However, the immune cells (T-cells) develop a form of immune ‘memory’ and become very resistant to treatments.

The UQ team has used gene therapy to ‘wipe’ the memory of these T-cells in animals, desensitising the immune system so that it tolerates the protein. Voila: no allergic reaction!

“Our work used an experimental asthma allergen, but this research could be applied to treat those who have severe allergies to peanuts, bee venom, shellfish and other substances,” Dr Steptoe said.

“We take blood stem cells, insert a gene which regulates the allergen protein and we put that into the recipient.

“Those engineered cells produce new blood cells that express the protein and target specific immune cells, ‘turning off’ the allergic response.”

The eventual goal would be a single injected gene therapy, replacing short-term treatments that target allergy symptoms with varying degrees of effectiveness.

“We haven’t quite got it to the point where it’s as simple as getting a flu jab, so we are working on making it simpler and safer so it could be used across a wide cross-section of affected individuals,” Dr Steptoe said.

“At the moment, the target population might be those individuals who have severe asthma or potentially lethal food allergies.”

The research has been published in JCI Insight.