Fresh hope as Scots experts make allergy breakthrough

Health Correspondent

Monday 6 August 2012

SCIENTISTS in Scotland are offering new hope to millions of allergy sufferers after discovering one way cells stop reactions that can lead to sneezing, wheezing and itching.

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Helen Puttick Health Correspondent

Researchers at Edinburgh University have found two chemicals which are released naturally to prevent the body's immune system over-reacting – the problem which causes allergies. It is hoped drugs could be developed which either mimic the effect of these chemicals or trigger their release, stopping people with conditions such as hay fever experiencing symptoms.

It is estimated 21 million adults across the UK suffer from at least one allergy and the total is increasing by 5% every year. Half of all those affected are children.The number of Scots diagnosed with asthma has risen 10% in five years and the country has some of the worst rates of the condition in the world.Dr Andrew MacDonald, immunology expert and leader of the study, said: "Allergies are at epidemic levels now in developed countries. Current drugs are effective to a point, but most of them are very blanket surpressors of immunity, and that in the long term is not really what you want to be aiming at. Developing proper refined therapies that do not increase your chances of being infected by something else is really the future."His team in the School of Biological Sciences began by looking at how the body responds to infections. He explained immune system cells usually rush into tissues to fix things when there is an invader, such as bacteria. In allergy sufferers the same thing happens, cells rush to the nose, throat and eyes as if pollen or dust is an invader.As yet no-one knows why the immune system makes this mistake, he said. However one cell, known as a dendritic cell, has already been identified as having an important role in mounting battles against infection.Dr MacDonald and his colleagues, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health in the US, have spent 10 years studying dendritic cells taken from mice.The results of their latest research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show for the first time the cells release two chemicals which serve to curtail the body's immune response when it overreacts and could cause harm. The cells appear to be regulators which should be acting to keep the immune system in check.Confirming human dendritic cells play the same role is the next step. Dr MacDonald said: "At this point our best hope for this kind of fundamental research is that it provides a lead to a new drug. There is nothing we can advise people with allergies to do to try to encourage this dendritic cell response."There is however, the potential to help millions of people who suffer allergic reactions in the long term. Dr MacDonald said: "These particular type of cells could be relevant to all kinds of allergic situations from a benign runny nose for a week in the spring to people who are pretty much incapacitated by allergies such as asthma."Maureen Jenkins, director of clinical services, for charity Allergy UK, said: "The discovery has shown a powerful cell known to work in many ways may have a role in regulating or suppressing an allergic response by the body's immune system. Allergy UK welcomes this new knowledge, which potentially could lead to the development of new ways to control allergic inflammation."

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Fresh hope as Scots experts make allergy breakthrough

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