Redefining Allergy Treatment With a New Innovative Approach
A newly developed technology showed a cell protein called LMAN1 that had never been recognized for having a role in the body's allergen response, according to a study published in the journal Cell Reports.
For years, research and therapies for allergic asthma have been focused largely on targeting the inflammatory cytokines in the body that react to allergens and cause overproduction of mucus, wheezing, and difficulty breathing.
‘Research shows an entirely new function of LMAN1, as a receptor to bring allergens from outside of cells to the inside, opening a new pathway for allergy treatment.#allergy #asthma #house dust mite’
Commonly prescribed drugs like Omalizumab, Dupilumab, Mepolizumab, and Reslizumab lower or block the various cytokines and antibodies responsible for the asthmatic response, but they work after a patient's airway inflammation is well underway ().
Hence, it is important to develop therapies with the potential to change the allergic asthmatic disease course. This will require the discovery of targets that play a central role during the initiation of an allergic response, such as those involved in the process of allergen recognition.
Breakthrough That Could Make Allergies a Thing of the Past
In the quest for such a process, researchers wanted to find a new approach to keep allergen receptors from reacting in the first place. So they utilized a technique called LRC-TriCEPS - which identifies receptors in cells - for a common allergen, house dust mite.In that experiment, they discovered the role of the protein LMAN1 as an allergen receptor. The interesting thing was that people had not been paying much attention to this protein in the context of allergies or allergic asthma.
Before this discovery, LMAN1 was generally known as a cargo receptor - a protein that transports other proteins inside and outside the cell (). However, researchers demonstrated that house dust mite allergens and LMAN1 can bind together on the cell surface to cause inflammatory or allergic reactions.
Further research showed that the binding depended on specific mannose sugar structures on the house dust mite allergens. This discovery has tremendous potential since many other common allergens, including pollen and fungi, are mannosylated, or modified by the addition of mannose sugars.
The thinking is that this could potentially not just be restricted to dust mites because many other allergens are mannosylated, this could be a very broad receptor that recognizes many different allergens.
LMAN 1 has been largely known as a protein that is involved in transporting proteins from inside cells to the outside of cells. This research is the first one to show an entirely new function of LMAN1, as a receptor to bring proteins, such as allergens, from outside of cells to the inside. This could open up a new pathway for treatment ().
With hundreds of thousands of allergic asthma cases in the United States every year, and many more worldwide, this research represents a step forward toward helping these patients.
Many treatments can only be prescribed if you meet certain clinical criteria, many treatments are cost prohibitive, and many are not covered by insurance. So, any new treatment we can put forth that could potentially be more universal would always be an advance.
Researchers are now researching to confirm their hypothesis that other mannosylated allergens, such as pollen, are also recognized by LMAN1. If true, this could have broad implications in future therapies for many of the most common allergens.
References:
- Omalizumab: Clinical Use for the Management of Asthma - (https:journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.4137/CCRPM.S7793)
- LMAN1-MCFD2 complex is a cargo receptor for the ER-Golgi transport of α1-antitrypsin - (https:portlandpress.com/biochemj/article/479/7/839/231073)
- LMAN1 is a receptor for house dust mite allergens - (https:www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(23)00219-X?)
Source: Eurekalert