Scientists Develop Rice-based Peptide Vaccine for Pollen Allergies

Scientists Fumio Takaiwa and Lijung Yang from the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (Japan) developed a universal peptide vaccine for Japanese cedar pollinosis, a major allergy related disease in Japan. They developed transgenic seeds containing seven new T-cell epitopes (Crp3) in addition to the T-cell epitopes used in the 7Crp peptide. Then they co-expressed unique T-cell epitopes (6Chao) from the Japanese cypress pollen allergens Cha o 1 and Cha o 2 in transgenic rice seeds containing 7Crp and Crp3. The transgenic rice seeds, containing many highly homologous T-cell epitopes derived from cedar and cypress allergens, are expected to be applicable to a wide range of patients suffering from these pollen allergies.

Read more at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11248-014-9790-3.