An anti-IgE protein-bacteria combo for food allergy; predicting COVID mutants, Lasker winners and more

GI Innovation Inc. researchers and collaborators described in Nature Communications an anti-IgE fusion protein, dubbed IgETRAP, that improved allergic disease symptoms in mouse models of ovalbumin-induced food allergy and peanut-induced systemic anaphylaxis. The addition of Bifidobacterium longum as a combination treatment enhanced the anti-allergic effect by reducing mast cell number and free IgE levels.

The authors engineered IgETRAP by linking the extracellular domain of hFcεRI, a high-affinity IgE receptor, to an IgD–IgG4 hybrid Fc domain, which increased the molecule’s half-life and reduced the risk of IgG1 Fc-mediated inflammatory side effects compared with other anti-IgE mAbs, such as omalizumab...