A new method for testing allergenic substances without experimental animals

Contact allergy affects around 20% of the population in the western world. Scientists are working intensively to develop alternative test methods that do not require animal testing. A research group at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has now developed a unique test method that enables graded results to be obtained using cultured skin cells.

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Next-generation allergy vaccines to be developed in Finland to create effective and safe desensitization therapies

VTT holds patents on gene technology which can be applied to alter the structure of an allergen, i.e. a protein causing allergy, so that it will cause less allergic symptoms than the original allergen, while remaining effective in desensitisation therapy.

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Target identifed that could combat allergies of early childhood

A pandemic of ailments called the “allergic march” — the gradual acquisition of overlapping allergic diseases that commonly begins in early childhood — has frustrated both parents and physicians. For the last three decades, an explosion of eczema, food allergies, hay fever, and asthma have afflicted children in the United States, the European Union, and many other countries.

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Children’s hay fever relieved by cellulose power without adverse effects

A cellulose powder has been used increasingly for many years against allergic rhinitis. Still, there has been a shortage of scientific evidence for its efficacy in seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever), particularly in children. Now, however, scientists from the Sahlgrenska Academy and the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg have proven that the cellulose powder reduces symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis in children, without any adverse effects.

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Allergy vaccine is nothing to sneeze at

Monash University researchers are working on a vaccine that could completely cure asthma brought on by house dust mite allergies.

If successful, the vaccine would have the potential to cure sufferers in two to three doses.

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New treatment may desensitize kids with milk allergies, say researchers at Stanford and Boston

STANFORD, Calif. — Some 3 million children in the United States have some form of food allergy, ranging in severity from mild to life-threatening. Milk allergy is the most common, affecting 2.5 percent of children under age 3. In a small clinical study, immunologists and allergists at Children’s Hospital Boston and the Stanford University School of Medicine report effectively desensitizing milk-allergic patients by increasing their exposure to milk in tandem with an allergy drug called omalizumab, allowing children to build up resistance quickly with limited allergic reactions.

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New discovery on the causes of contact allergy

The fragrances used in many household and skincare products can cause contact allergy when exposed to oxygen in the air, reveals research from the University of Gothenburg’s Faculty of Science in conjunction with the University of Gothenburg to be presented at the dermatologist conference in Gothenburg.

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Johns Hopkins researchers turn off severe food allergies in mice

New study suggests immune system can be trained to tolerate peanuts, milk, more

Johns Hopkins Medicine

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered a way to turn off the immune system’s allergic reaction to certain food proteins in mice, a discovery that could have implications for the millions of people who suffer severe reactions to foods, such as peanuts and milk.

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Study points to key genetic driver of severe allergic asthma

CINCINNATI – Scientists have identified a genetic basis for determining the severity of allergic asthma in experimental models of the disease.

The study may help in the search for future therapeutic strategies to fight a growing medical problem that currently lacks effective treatments, researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center report in the Aug. 29 Nature Immunology.

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Research concludes vitamin D may treat or prevent allergy to common mold

New Orleans, LA – Research conducted by Dr. Jay Kolls, Professor and Chair of Genetics at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, and colleagues, has found that vitamin D may be an effective therapeutic agent to treat or prevent allergy to a common mold that can complicate asthma and frequently affects patients with Cystic Fibrosis. The work is scheduled to be published online August 16, 2010, ahead of the print edition of the September 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

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