Vaccine development could cure Cat Allergies (LiveScience.com)

Kitten nose Sniffly lovers rejoice: a new vaccine could soon banish allergies to cats.

The vaccine is yet ready for the first time, but a new study finds that the shots are safe, March 31 researchers in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. They are also effective in reducing allergic reactions, researchers reported.

Approximately 10 per cent of the peopleare allergic to cats. Currently, the only solutions are to stay away from cats, or to obtain several kitty allergen injections to help the body to build up a tolerance. But this process can take years, wrote the immunologist researcher and study of the McMaster University Mark Larche. [Read: allergy symptoms make easy Shots?]

Larche and his colleagues developed the vaccine by isolating the protein shed by cats causing allergic reactions. They then used blood samples of people with cat allergies to determine what segment of the cat protein binds to and active immune cells. (An allergic reaction occurs when the immune system interprets benign substances such as cat dander, as invaders and launches an attack).

Then, researchers have made synthetic versions of these segments called peptides. A mixture of seven synthetic peptides is the vaccine. The idea, the researchers wrote, is that the immune system will meet these strands of peptide, that are part of immune cells as a key to a lock, and recognizing them as harmless. This action stops the response inflammatory sniffling, sneezing in momentum, even when peptides are attached to proteins real cat.

88 Patients early clinical trial resulted in no serious side effects, researchers reported. A single injection reduces the inflammatory reaction of skin allergens cat 40 percent, the researchers wrote. To obtain an equivalent response with current anti-pollen allergy treatments, they wrote, patients, should get 12 weeks of treatment with pollen extract.

The vaccine is developed by Adiga Life Sciences, a company established at McMaster University and biotech British firm Circassia Ltd. Companies are continuing with clinical trials with a broader group of patients to determine the optimal dose for the vaccine.

You can follow LiveScience senior editor Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @ sipappas.

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