Vaccine breakthrough key to controlling asthma

New Zealand researchers said Monday they have discovered new vaccine technology for the treatment of asthma and other allergic diseases.

The discovery in the field of immunotherapy, which harnesses the body's own ability to fight diseases, was an extension of work to develop cancer vaccines at Wellington's Victoria University.

"Cancer and asthma both involve the immune system, but in cancer we are trying to get the body to take notice of tumor proteins, while in asthma, we want to stop it over-reacting to an allergen," researcher Dr Ian Hermans said in a statement.

"Allergy is the wrong sort of immune response. Using the vaccine, we have initiated a more appropriate immune response and prevented the allergy from taking hold."

Vaccines worked by presenting the body with an antigen, which provoked the immune system to activate T cells to protect from the disease in the future.

To strengthen the immune response, a chemical called an adjuvant was administered along with the antigen, to make the vaccine more effective.

In the asthma vaccine, the antigen and the adjuvant were chemically linked, rather than simply delivered together, ensuring the essential components reached the target cells together and created the most powerful but highly specific immune response to target the disease.

"By linking them, we make sure they are both delivered to the right place in the body. Once there, they are split and presented to the immune system to initiate a response," said Hermans.

The researchers said it was a promising step in the challenge to understand and control asthma, which affects one in four children in New Zealand.