Liver-targeting vaccine protects mice from allergic asthma reactions for at least a year

A research team led by Professor Jeffrey Hubbell  – who, in addition to this role at Tandon, serves as Vice President for Life Sciences and Engineering for NYU and holds a faculty appointment at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine – has developed an "inverse vaccine" that delivers deactivated allergens to the liver, significantly reducing allergic asthma reactions in mice for at least a year after treatment. The vaccine attaches mannose sugar to allergens, directing these modified "tolerogens" to the liver where they stimulate regulatory T-cells that suppress allergic responses. "One thing I really like about this approach is that it has memory," explains Hubbell. "You just take the drug and then that's that." This potentially groundbreaking technique could offer significantly better treatment options for various allergies in humans.