(743d) Nanoallergens: A Liposome Based Platform for Modeling Allergenic Proteins

Allergies, also known as type I hypersensitivity, is an immunological disorder of certain immune cells where allergen proteins bind multiple cell surface bound immunoglobulin Eâ??s (IgEs), triggering the release of inflammatory agents and enzymes. The release of inflammatory compounds, known as the degranulation reaction, occurs on mast cells and basophils; and can result in severe symptoms including a potentially fatal anaphylactic shock. Due to the growing prevalence of allergies in the general population, there is an increased need to model the allergen proteins for accurate identification of the most important epitopes that carry critical roles during activation of the degranulation reactions to elucidate the details of this complex cellular response. Recently, our laboratory has developed a new platform for modeling allergen proteins we call nanoallergens. By displaying peptide mimotopes of potential IgE binding epitopes on the surfaces of liposomal nanoparticles, we can stimulate degranulation responses in a similar fashion to natural allergen proteins. Liposomes offer precise control over epitope loading ratios and heterogeneity, and allow a systematic study of an individual patient reactivity to each epitope. Furthermore, nanoallergen platform allows a much needed prediction of a potential clinical response to allergens in a personalized therapy setting that is currently unavailable using current allergy testing methods. Nanoallergens are also extremely versatile; so far we have evaluated the potency of IgE epitopes in several major peanut proteins using clinical samples and likewise used nanoallergens as an allergy testing model for penicillin allergies. Given the ease of synthesis and wide range of applications, we demonstrate that nanoallergens have potential as valuable tools for studying degranulation responses, determining and ranking allergy reactive epitopes as well as clinical allergy testing.