Newly Found Protein Structure May Help To Develop Dog Allergy Vaccine

Mar, 2022 - By WMR

Researchers found a series of molecules involved in most of the allergic reactions to dogs, which could help develop dog allergy vaccine

A team of researchers from Osaka Prefecture University, Japan found the crystal structure of a protein that is involved in the allergic reactions to dogs for the first time. According to the research published in the journal Federation of European Biochemical Societies on October 26, 2021, the novel understanding of this protein would help scientists to develop a dog allergy vaccine sooner.

So far research have found seven types of allergens that are responsible for allergic dog allergies among humans. These molecules were found to bind to antibodies through epitopes, which are short amino acid sequences. These epitome form proteins that drive the immune response. However, one of these seven types of allergens, Canis Familiaris allergens 1 to 7, which is called Can f 1 and found in tongue tissue, skin, and salivary glands of dogs, was found to be responsible for most of the allergic response to dogs in humans, which is around 50 to 75 %. In order to develop a dog allergy vaccine, the researcher will focus on IgE epitope in Can f 1 protein. The scientists used X-ray crystallography in order to identify the crystal structure of the Can f 1 protein. At first, the folding pattern of this protein match to three of the other proteins that were previously identified, however, the location of surface electrical charges differed in them.

Furthermore, this important difference of surface electrical charge location presented a set of residues that are solid candidates for the IgE isotope. The overall finding of this research is one step forward to the vaccine for dog allergy. Yet, the team indicated that there is more work required for further narrowing down these candidates.