Researchers from the London School of Medicine and Dentistry have discovered a target for asthma and allergies that works upstream in the development of the immune response. They say this could result in the development of treatments that preempt any allergic symptoms. Blocking the target has been shown to reduce allergic reactions in mice.
The scientists, led by Bart Vanhaesebroeck have shown that targeting p110delta, a member of the phosphoinositide kinase-3 family (PI3Ks), which are implicated in many different diseases including cancer, cuts off allergic responses before any of the typical symptoms of sneezing, runny nose, or inflammation occur.
Drugs that act on all PI3K family members tend to be toxic in the body. Vanhaesebroeck’s team have used genetic techniques to find out which PI3K family members are linked to which diseases. By studying each PI3K individually it should be possible to develop drugs that are more finely targeted and produce fewer side effects. The PI3K p110gamma has previously been implicated in allergic reactions and was thought to be more important than p110delta. Vanhaesebroeck has confirmed that p110delta, but not p110gamma, is important for allergic reactions in a mouse model.
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