By ANN LUKITS Researchers have developed a new vaccine to
desensitize people with a cat allergy that is faster and safer
than traditional immunotherapies, according to a study in the
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Cat allergy affects
up to 10% of the general population and is a key trigger of
childhood asthma. Standard treatment involves weekly injections
of cat allergen in incremental doses for a year or more, but
severe allergic reactions are a risk. The new vaccine, developed
in Canada, uses synthetic versions of short peptides from the
protein responsible for most cat allergies. The peptides are
1,000 times less allergenic than traditional cat allergen,
researchers said. The vaccine was tested on 66 volunteers;
another 22 received a placebo. Skin responses, an indicator of
the severity of an allergy, were measured after eight hours and
compared with reactions to cat allergen. Adverse responses in
the vaccinated group were reduced by 40% and 10% in the placebo
group. Researchers said the resul