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Biotech Science

Belgian Scientists Inhibit Protein Responsible For Allergic Reactions (ugent.be) 39

Posted by EditorDavid from the asthma-eczema-and-allergies dept.
lhunath writes: Scientists at the University of Gent exposed the TSLP protein's function in triggering allergic reactions such as asthma and eczema. The team then developed a protein-based inhibitor used to capture TSLP and prevent its bioactivity as it associates with its natural receptors. Using this method, allergic reactions can be inhibited before they are triggered.
The team's results were recently published in Nature, where they share a vision that their work "will guide therapeutic approaches that manipulate human TSLP-mediated signalling to treat allergic diseases."
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Belgian Scientists Inhibit Protein Responsible For Allergic Reactions More

Belgian Scientists Inhibit Protein Responsible For Allergic Reactions

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  • Only $5000. Per pill.
  • Yes, good luck with that American health industry. Now the wealthy can cure their allergies while most suffer. Good thing Americans are pouring so much into their health industry they're getting good research from BELGIUM. This is more important than it is at first glance. There are a lot of crippling diseases caused by over activity of the bodies allergic response, especially in childhood.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by TWX ( 665546 )

      This doesn't sound like a cure so much as a treatment. That one has to take on a regular basis. For the rest of one's life.

      Should a product come to market, most healthplans won't cover it for most cases, only the most severe relevant allergic reactions that have strong chance in resulting in death of the patient would be covered. Expect a rise in the number of Athsma diagnoses.

      • Right, most health plans won't cover it in most cases.. meaning only the wealthy will be able to be allergy free. Sucks to be middle class or poor in America.

        A lot of the serious issues caused by the immune system in childhood involve using dangerous drugs like methotrexate to stop the process and restart it. If there could be a more effective and safe treatment that would be awesome. Again, maybe not available in the US though.

        • Right, most health plans won't cover it in most cases..

          And you know this how, exactly?

          meaning only the wealthy will be able to be allergy free.

          And you know this how, exactly?

          • Pharmaceutical companies exist to make a profit, because of capitalism. Capitalism is an extension of the 'law of the jungle'. You want to change that situation, then find a way to hurry the genetic and social evolution of humankind, all over the world, so we aren't driven by hardwired animal instincts anymore.

      • A cure would likely need gene revision or modification. Yes, it's a treatment. But if it turns out to yield a useable drug, it will sit on the shelf with a long line of 'biologics'. These are usually monoclonal antibodies [wikipedia.org] (think Humira [wikipedia.org]) and have been successfully used to treat a number of typically autoimmune diseases. They're harder to make than small molecule drugs and the biochemistry is pretty damned complex (read TFA if you can), so they're going to be more expensive than your typical bulk chemical

        • Read my post above. You don't know that. Some treatments are temporary and involve blocking the process for a bit so that it can reset itself. But, yeah, at $1000 a dose and without coverage, only the wealthy elite in America will be able to access the treatment whether it is temporary or not.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I'm allergic to my own sweat. Literally, not as an excuse to be lazy. It affects every moment of my life. I toss and turn at night, scratching my skin into a bloody mess. I can't go outside during the summer. It's miserable. Research like this gives me hope. I'm tired of waking up with my scabs having fused with my bedsheets. I know that's graphic, but it's a very real example of the kind of problem these drugs can solve. So far nothing helps except for predisone, which isn't a long term solution (lots of n

  • Exciting! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ohnocitizen ( 1951674 ) on Saturday April 08, 2017 @11:30AM (#54198211)
    Efforts to get at the root cause of allergies are exciting, and pose the possibility of treatment with fewer or no side effects (an improvement), more effective treatment (and improvement) or even a cure (massive improvement). Yet most of the comments are inane observations about how "fragile" humans are(so should we just stop researching diseases and disorders then?), "now what?" (there will be more research and hopefully practical results!), or about the massive expense, or another tiresome variation of how "this isn't news or doesn't belong on slashdot". Slashdot's community used to be insightful and fun. Now you're more likely to see knowledgeable comments and wit over on reddit. Slashdot seems to have become a refuge for aging techies with a naive libertarian view of the world, an irrational hatred of "sjw's", and a general cynicism. What a waste of what was once a fun place to get news for nerds and read comments that ADDED to the news.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      The problem is allergies are problems with the fine-tuning of the immune system. Anything which massively inhibits this is going to cause massive problems...perhaps up to the "bubble-boy syndrome" level.

      OTOH, I can't tell from the summary, but this might be something that eliminated immune response against some particular (set of?) proteins. That might be really impressive and useful. But it would also need to be tuned to particular allergens that were to be considered "not dangerous". So you'd need a l

      • The problem is allergies are problems with the fine-tuning of the immune system. Anything which massively inhibits this is going to cause massive problems...perhaps up to the "bubble-boy syndrome" level.

        It depends on which subset you're talking about when you say "allergies".

        The common sniffiling-and-hives branch is apparently a rapid massive-response to attack tropical worms,. You get "allergies" when this bored system decides that molecule on a plant pollen grain or some other irritant is actually a trop

      • You are exactly right with the following two lines:

        "The problem is allergies are problems with the fine-tuning of the immune system."
        "Otherwise this is a bit of highly important research, but it won't lead directly to anything usefully applicable"

        As a better understanding of our immune system, and how we can help fine tune it, will have tremendous impact on disease research and finding treatment procedures.
        Allergy issues are increasing and so is the complexity of cancer, and they would both benefit from of

  • Suspects include a Mr Ben Erdryl and C. Tomas Irizine

  • No *all* allergies (Score:5, Informative)

    by gringer ( 252588 ) on Saturday April 08, 2017 @03:34PM (#54199061)

    This won't prevent all allergic responses. We've carried out research that indicates there are at least two types of allergic responses, one TSLP-dependent and another Interferon alpha-dependent:

    https://growkudos.com/publicat... [growkudos.com]

    The TSLP response seems to be most associated with chemical-related irritants (e.g. cinnamon oil, SLS), while the IFN-a response seems to be most associated with small organism irritants (e.g. house dust mites, parasites).

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