Lonza Awarded Patent for Larch Arabinogalactan and Adaptive Immune Response

02 Oct 2014 --- Lonza has been awarded a new patent for the ability of its ResistAid larch arabinogalactan, when administered with a vaccine, to enhance the adaptive immune response. The patent, No. US 8,784,844 B2, entails arabinogalactan’s ability to elicit a beneficial response from the adaptive immune system when administered with a vaccine in subjects prior, during and after the phase of exposure to a foreign antigen.

This new patent further validates the role of ResistAid larch arabinogalactan as an immune modulation ingredient, thanks to a wealth of validated science demonstrating its ability to selectively call upon both the non-specific, cellular response, as well as the adaptive immune response in healthy adults,” said Bryan Rodriguez, Global Product Manager for Lonza. “In addition, the ResistAid ingredient provides an immunomodulatory effect, meaning it can enhance the appropriate response to an antigen, as opposed to indiscriminately enhancing other arms of the immune system that would not be expected to respond.”

The patent was awarded as a result of continued clinical research investigating the ability of ResistAid larch arabinogalactan to modulate the immune system in direct response to antigenic stimulation, rather than nonspecific augmentation, for a more physiologic approach to immune enhancement. Specifically, ResistAid larch arabinogalactan demonstrated the ability to increase the antibody response of healthy volunteers to the 23-valent pneumococcal (pneumonia) and tetanus vaccine. These studies were conducted in collaboration with Medicus Research LLC and were published in the Nutrition Journal and Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

These randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials demonstrated the ability of the ResistAid ingredient at a dose of 1.5 g/day to significantly increase the IgG antibody response to the tetanus and pneumococcal vaccine, as compared with a placebo,” Rodriguez said. “In conjunction with earlier studies, this validates the effect of ResistAid arabinogalactan on the augmentation of the response to bacterial antigens in the form of a vaccine.”

Vaccines trigger in vivo immune responses, which are indicators of immune function. The vaccine model is widely used to evaluate the impact a nutrient has on normal immune function and provides high-quality information on the protective effect a nutrient has on immune responsiveness.

The ResistAid ingredient is composed of galactose and arabinose, which have the ability to strengthen both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system. Galactose and arabinose are common structural components of cell walls of environmental invaders such as bacteria. Therefore, the immune cells directly recognize the components and bind to ResistAid larch arabinogalactan. ResistAid ingredient acts as a biological response modifier, via receptor sites on immune cells.