Using allergens from apples presents effective option for treating apple allergy: study

22 Nov 2017 --- Apple allergens could be an effective option for treating apple allergy, a study from the Medical University of Vienna has suggested. The food allergy, which is related to birch pollen, is a very common attendant phenomenon associated with birch pollen allergy – around 70 percent of those with a birch pollen allergy are also allergic to apples, which amounts to around 280,000 people in Austria.

Apple allergy can have serious effects, the Medical University of Vienna explains. In those affected, eating apples leads to swelling and rashes or itching in the mouth and gullet, as well as in the ear area, and even to blistering.

Working in close collaboration with Tamar Kinaciyan at the Medical University of Vienna’s Department of Dermatology, a research group led by Barbara Bohle at the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research has now proven in a Phase II trial that the apple allergen “Mal d 1” significantly reduces the symptoms of apple allergy and is, therefore, an effective and safe treatment option, the university reports.

Of the 60 volunteers with birch pollen-related apple allergy, 20 were treated with placebo, 20 with a birch pollen allergen and 20 with the recombinant apple allergen Mal d 1, which is genetically manufactured, reproducible, very stable and therefore easily stored.

The volunteers were administered Mal d 1 once a day in the form of sublingual drops. The results are very promising: “In 6 out of 20 volunteers, the allergy or symptoms did not manifest at all,” says lead investigator Bohle.

“Following the treatment, they were able to eat two apples a day without any symptoms,” Bohle continues. “In all the others, the symptoms were significantly reduced, so that even they no longer needed to avoid eating healthy, native apples.”

The results of the Phase II trial now have to be verified in a (multi-center) clinical Phase III trial – as soon as this trial has been completed and a partner has been found from the pharmaceutical industry, this immunotherapy could be available in a few years for treating apple allergy.

Around 400,000 Austrians suffer from a birch pollen allergy, the Medical University of Vienna points out. The symptoms triggered by pollen are easily treated by immunotherapy but the vaccines that have hitherto been available are not effective against the birch pollen allergen or against various cross-sensitivities.

The results of the trial lead the university to hope that Mal d 1 can be used to reduce the symptoms of cross-sensitivities with apples and might even be effective for other fruit allergies.