Hope for hayfever sufferers in tests

Permanent relief for the one in five people who suffer from pollen allergies is a step closer with the development by Australian scientists of a potential vaccine for hayfever and pollen-induced asthma.

It consists of a modified protein from rye grass - one of the main culprits of spring sneezing.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a team member from the University of Melbourne, Prem Bhalla, said initial tests suggested the purified protein would be a much safer treatment than the injections of "crude" pollen extracts now used to desensitise people with severe allergies.

These extracts, which contain a mixture of proteins and other ingredients, can cause serious side effects, including life-threatening anaphylactic shock.

About one in five people in New Zealand suffers hayfever, and in the Western World allergy-related disease rates have doubled in the past 20 years.

No clinical trials of the new protein were planned yet, Associate Professor Bhalla said.

About 95 per cent of allergy patients show a strong reaction to a protein in rye grass, known as Lol p 5.

About a decade ago, Associate Professor Bhalla's colleague and husband, Associate Professor Mohan Singh, isolated the gene that makes the troublesome protein.

For the past six years, they have made small changes to the gene and then introduced the modified versions into bacteria to see what kind of grass proteins were produced.

The breakthrough came with the ninth mutant gene. The slightly modified protein it produced was capable of boosting an immune response to rye grass, but it caused a lower allergic reaction than the normal grass protein.

Associate Professor Frank Thien, a specialist in asthma, said the research represented a significant step forward, but he warned that any treatment or vaccine was several years away.

nzherald.co.nz/health