September 15, 2014

Depigmented-polymerised allergoids favour regulatory over effector T cells: enhancement by 1α, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3

Research article

Zoe L Urry1David F Richards1Cheryl Black1Maria Morales2Jerónimo Carnés2,Catherine M Hawrylowicz1* and Douglas S Robinson3*

1Department of Allergy and Asthma, MRC and Asthma UK Centre for Mechanisms of Allergic Asthma, Guy’s Campus, King’s College London, London, UK
2Department of Research and Development, Laboratorios Leti, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
3Leukocyte Biology Section, MRC and Asthma UK Centre for Mechanisms of Allergic Asthma, NHLI, Imperial College London, London, UK
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The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2172/15/21

Received:30 October 2013
Accepted:16 May 2014
Published:29 May 2014
© 2014 Urry et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Abstract

Background

Allergen immunotherapy (SIT) is the only treatment for allergic disease capable of modifying disease long term. To reduce the risk of anaphylaxis from SIT, allergen-extracts have been modified by polymerisation with glutaraldehyde to reduce IgE binding. It is suggested that these allergoid extracts also have reduced T cell activity, which could compromise clinical efficacy. Effective SIT is thought to act through regulatory T cells (Tregs) rather than activation of effector T cells. There is no published data on the activity of modified extracts on Tregs.

Results

We compared the capacity of modified (depigmented-polymerised) versus unmodified (native) allergen extracts of grass pollen and house dust mite to stimulate proliferation/cytokine production and to modulate Treg/effector T cell frequency in cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), from volunteers sensitised to both allergens in vitro. Depigmented-polymerised allergen extracts stimulated less proliferation of PBMC, and reduced effector cell numbers after 7 days in culture than did native extracts. However, the frequency of Foxp3+ Tregs in cultures were similar to those seen with native extract so that ratios of regulatory to effector T cells were significantly increased in cultures stimulated with depigmented-polymerised extracts. Addition of 1α, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 further favoured Treg, and reduced effector cytokine production, but not interleukin-10.

Conclusions

Depigmented-polymerised allergen extracts appear to favour Treg expansion over activation of effector T cells and this may relate to their demonstrated efficacy and safety in SIT. 1α, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 further reduces effector T cell activation by allergen extracts and may be a useful adjuvant for SIT.
Keywords: 
Allergen extract; Depigmented-polymerised; Immunotherapy; Regulatory T cell; Vitamin D

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