LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Good news for cat lovers whose allergies are keeping them from the purring felines! HypoPet AG announced Friday that it might have found a vaccine to get rid of cat allergies, according to Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Cat allergy in human subjects is usually caused by the major cat allergen Fel d 1 and is found in approximately 10 percent of the Western population. Currently, there is no efficient and safe therapy for cat allergy available. But HypoPet AG developed a new strategy to treat Fel d 1–induced allergy in human subjects by immunizing cats against their own major allergen, Fel d 1.
After the cats were treated the results showed the vaccine was well tolerated and had no overt toxic effect, HypoPet AG said. All cats induced a strong and sustained specific IgG antibody response. The induced anti–Fel d 1 antibodies were of high affinity and exhibited a strong neutralization ability tested both in vitro and in vivo. A reduction in the endogenous allergen level and a reduced allergenicity of tear samples, were observed.
For more on what was concluded from the study, go here.
