Anyone who’s suffered from allergies knows that they’re the antithesis of fun. If you’re not in the unlucky percentage of people who can’t be around certain dust, certain pets, certain foods, certain air quality, certain pollens, certain hundreds of other things that just can’t be avoided in every situation, imagine having a really intense cold triggered instantly by some unseen factor. Your nose stuffs up (or can’t stop leaking), your eyes itch, your head hurts, and/or your throat closes up. Maybe your skin even breaks out with tiny red bumps to spread a little icky frosting over the ugly crap cake that has become your life. What’s happening is that your immune system is freaking out about what it perceives to be a threat to your body, and puts the whole darned thing on red alert.
Not seeing the appeal? Now you’ve got the right idea!
Many forms of allergy relief have been enacted upon the wheezing masses over the years with varying degrees of blessed success and outright failure, and they pretty much have one thing in common: they treat the symptoms of an allergic reaction once it’s already in play. Now researchers at the University of Notre Dame on the hayfever-laden plains of Indiana think there might just be a way to stop allergic reactions before they even begin with the help of an engineered molecule. This molecule, a heterobivalent ligand (HBL), is designed to signal mast cells — the white blood cells that trigger an allergic reaction (also known as hypersensitivity) — and negate any of the misinformation that allergens bring to them.
Think of a pair of couriers racing to the police station (mast cells). One (the allergen) is delivering the dangerously inaccurate message that a blue-haired, little, old lady is actually a bomb-toting maniac who is robbing the bank down the street and that the officers are going to have to blow up the whole bank to contain the problem. It doesn’t make much sense, but the orders are sealed from higher up and the police can only follow their orders to the letter or face the wrath of their superiors. The other courier (HBL) brings the more rational message that the blue-haired, little, old lady is actually a blue-haired, little, old lady trying to get a roll of quarters from the bank, so the police can relax and let this “problem” sort itself out. These orders are sealed from even higher up the chain of command, and so they supersede any of the nonsense that the other courier is trying to pass off as reality. Obviously, if the second courier can make it to the police station first, a whole lot of trouble can be avoided and everyone can just go on with their day normally.
How would HBLs be introduced into an immune system to help fend off unnecessary allergic reactions? Research team member Basar Bilgicer explains:”HBLs may be most useful in situations where it’s not possible to speak to or gauge someone’s sensitivity. For example, in an emergency, on a battlefield, or in a remote location, doctors may not be able to ask a patient about an allergy before administering penicillin. An engineered HBL could be given along with the medicine and perhaps prevent a deadly reaction from occurring.”
Such an approach would be a boon to those of us who deal with allergies either sporadically or on a daily basis, and I’m really crossing my fingers on this one (I love the cats who live in my house, but even a daily dose of Zyrtec only goes so far). How would such an allergy inhibition therapy affect your life? Drop us a line in the comments!
Flickr photo above shared by Mysi.