American scientists managed to save mice from food allergies, MSNBC reports. The study was conducted by a team of specialists led by Paul Bryce (Paul J. Bryce) from the Northwestern University in Illinois. A report on their work is published in The Journal of Immunology.

During the experiment, the Bryce group used a special line of mice with peanut allergy. The introduction of the nut protein activated the immune system of rodents, as a result of which asthmatic attacks began.

The researchers isolated leukocytes from the blood of mice and fixed on the cell surface the molecules of the allergen protein. After this, the laboratory animals were injected with modified leukocytes.

The introduction of these cells prevented the development of allergic reactions in rodents, since their immune system ceased to recognize peanut protein as an alien.

According to Bryce, a similar approach can be used to treat autoimmune diseases in which the immune system attacks not a foreign allergen (as in the case of food allergies), but one of its own proteins. The research team has already begun experiments, during which the new method is tested as a therapy for multiple sclerosis, which is of an autoimmune nature.

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