Production of Therapeutic Proteins Composed of Seven Dominant Human T Cell Epitopes Derived from the Japanese Cedar Pollen Allergens

摘要

About 23 million people suffer from Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) pollen allergy in Japan and the number of pollen allergy patients is steadily increasing. Histamine receptor antagonists have been mainly used for the treatment of this diseaseas the symptomatic treatment. Although the allergen-specific immunotherapy has attracted great attention, the use of intact native allergens has a risk of systemic anaphylaxis. To avoid side effect, the peptide immunotherapy using dominant T-cell epitopes has been expected as an effective treatment for allergic diseases. The effectiveness of this strategy has been proven in animal model and also described in humans. Recently, Takaiwa and co-workers developed transgenic plants expressing dominant T cellepitope peptides of Cry j 1 and Cry j 2 allergens of Japanese cedar pollen. Zhu et al. also reported that a chimeric protein composed of human IgG Fey and allergen might be effective for the immune therapy of allergic disease.