Patching it together: Epicutaneous vaccination with heat labile Escherichia coli toxin against birch pollen allergy

Abstract

Immunotherapy has been employed with great success in the form of vaccination to combat viral, bacterial, and parasitic infection. In this issue of Allergy, Cabauatan et al. describe a novel method of allergen specific immunotherapy using epicutaneous patch vaccination with the recombinant birch pollen antigen Bet v 1 in combination with a heat-labile Escherichia coli toxin (LT) as adjuvant. Patch vaccination with rBet v 1 + LT augmented production of IgG instead of IgE antibodies, inhibiting rBet v 1 sensitization in outbred guinea pigs. Sera from these animals blocked allergen binding to IgE derived from allergic patients. This study represents a novel approach to elicit allergen-specific blocking IgG antibodies. Epicutaneous patch vaccination is a safe, standardized, needle-free approach. Further research into this and other strategies is warranted to improve our current vaccine paradigms in order to better protect against allergic disease.

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