Researchers suggest new way to tackle life long allergies.

Having the ability to easily switch off your allergies might sound like a fantasy, but a groundbreaking new finding in allergy research suggests that this could soon become a reality.

Researchers have announced a significant breakthrough: they have identified a cell that remembers allergies and initiates the production of antibodies, which ultimately lead to allergic reactions.

Researchers describe it as a "groundbreaking discovery" that opens the door to treatments capable of potentially stopping allergic responses entirely.

"Before this discovery, it was uncertain about what precisely to target in the research. Now, the researchers have identified the specific cell responsible for maintaining allergies, essentially pinpointing the root cause. It's like finding the smoking gun," explained Josh Koenig, assistant professor in McMaster’s Department of Medicine and co-lead of the study, during a phone interview with CTVNews on Tuesday.

The task now is to develop methods to deactivate this cell," stated Josh Koenig, assistant professor in McMaster’s Department of Medicine and co-lead of the study.

Researchers from McMaster University and the Denmark-based pharmaceutical company ALK-Abello uncovered that a specific type of memory B cell, known as MBC2, was responsible for producing the antibodies associated with allergic reactions. Interestingly, individuals without allergies were found to have very few, if any, memory B cells.

Before this research was published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Translational Medicine this Wednesday, this particular type of cell had never been stated, Koenig noted. He added that their findings are being released concurrently with a separate study that verifies the existence of this cell in children with peanut allergies.

Allergies have long been puzzling in the medical field because they don't follow the typical pattern of a progressing disease, nor do they require constant management like many chronic conditions do.

People can avoid their allergens for extended periods, yet they remain allergic. How the immune system retains this allergic memory is not well understood, explained Koenig.

When your body comes into contact with something you're allergic to, whether on purpose or by accident, your immune system gets into action. It starts making more of these things called antibodies.

"We began by asking ourselves if there's a specific type of cell responsible for holding onto the memory of allergies and driving the production of allergic antibodies. It turns out, the answer is yes."

To determine if a particular subset of memory B cells was responsible for remembering allergies, researchers developed fluorescent molecules known as tetramers from allergens. This method helped them pinpoint memory B cells. Additionally, they utilized single-cell sequencing, a technique that involves organizing over 90,000 cells into groups based on their physical characteristics using computers. This approach built upon previous work conducted by Koenig and his team.

Ensuring the safety and effectiveness of new drugs is a lengthy process, requiring at least five years to understand how to utilize this information for drug development and commence the regulatory procedures.

"The crucial point is that previously, we were in the dark, uncertain of what we were aiming for. Now, we have a clear view of the horizon. We know precisely where to go and what steps to take."