Peanut Allergy
Covalent Heterobivalent Inhibitors
The History of the Approach to Peanut Allergy
Mark Kaplan, PhD, associate director at the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research, partnered with biochemical engineer Basar Bilgicer, PhD, from Notre Dame, to find ways to help the immune system selectively suppress immune responses that are caused by a certain allergen—peanuts.
And they were successful.
Bilgicer’s team identified peanut protein epitopes that IgE antibodies are most likely to recognize and developed an inhibitor, called a covalent heterobivalent inhibitor (cHBI). The inhibitor is designed to permanently fill the IgE’s receptor, essentially blinding it from recognizing or binding with the peanut protein.
Mechanism of Action
The covalent heterobivalent inhibitor Artin Immunology provides will prevent the allergic reaction to peanuts. The key activities of this precision medicine are as follows:
-
There are IgE antibodies specific to the peanut allergen that cause hypersensitivity and can lead to anaphylaxis.
-
The IgE molecule purpose is an antibody to attack foreign threats.
-
When a mast cell granulates, triggered by the peanut allergen, it “explodes”, releases histamine molecules.
-
The covalent heterobivalent inhibitor sits on the antibodies and blocks the binding of the allergen to the antibody.
By blocking the allergen from binding to IgE, mast cells will not be triggered to release histamines.
Need for a Tranformational Therapy
The majority of the developments for peanut allergy are immunotherapy, where limited tolerance is achieved over time. However success continues to be elusive, they can be dangerous to some patients, they take time for a patient to build up tolerance for the peanut allergy, and not all patients are responsive, long-term efficacy is challenging and this therapy is much more effective in children, not adults. Of note, our therapy can be used by people taking immunotherapies, expanding the need for this drug.
The engineered designer covalent heterobivalent inhibitor Artin Immunology provides is superior as it does not require the sometimes-dangerous immunotherapy to prevent the allergic reaction to peanuts. What is more, despite its superior specific immune suppression of peanut allergens, it has no generalized immune suppression because it targets specific IgE antibodies that specifically attack peanut epitopes.
This is huge step change, as we are targeting a product where parents can give their child a pill, subQ injection or a patch, and send them to school or a party without worry.
For adults that have never outgrown peanut allergy, this drug transforms their lives reducing the ongoing fear of an allergic reaction.