Edible vaccines are now produced which has been found to have less side effects and allergic reactions compared to conventional Immunotherapy vaccines. Antibodies against the allergen is given as a vaccine in order if the patient encounters the allergen or infection these antibodies which are already present helps to counteract the allergen which is an antigen.
Conventional antibody injections against allergy diseases such as hay fever, cat and venom allergies requires continuous monitoring after antibody therapy as the patients may develop adverse immune reactions.Researchers jointly from University of Tokyo and Shimane University team of Japan developed the new edible vaccines. The results of the new research were submitted in the journal Proceedings Of The National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers have developed a new genetic engineered rice based vaccine for allergy treatments with vaccine containing the antibodies against the allergens the edible vaccines were tested in mice model and it has offered protection against the allergens. The new genetic edible vaccines are preferred to older injections, which require a course of vaccine treatments for more than a year and require hospitalization because of the danger of the allergens present in the vaccines, which may cause anaphylactic reactions.
This new edible oral vaccine contains only part of the allergen in comparison to traditional injections and therefore it reduces the risk of anaphylactic reactions caused by injection vaccines.
Professor Hidenori Takagi, Co-author of the new vaccine developed said, Plant-based vaccines have several potential advantages over traditional whole-allergen injected vaccines since they are simpler to administer and cheaper to produce but admitted that more clinical trial as to be conduced before a human vaccine is developed.
Muriel Simmons, chief executive Allergy UK, said, Courses of injections have to be tightly monitored in hospital so anything that offers the hope of an easier and safer way to give them is to be welcomed.
