Modified rice relieves allergies in mice

Eating a bowl of rice could one day prevent the irritating symptoms of hay fever and other allergic reactions, researchers claim.

A Japanese team genetically modified rice so that it produced molecules found in Japanese cedar pollen – a plant which commonly causes hay fever in that country. For four weeks, the rice was fed to a group of mice that were allergic to cedar pollen. When they were subsequently exposed to the pollen, the mice had fewer allergic reactions, produced fewer allergen-specific antibodies – histamines – and sneezed less than mice fed on unmodified rice or no rice.The method could lead to allergy vaccines for humans that are easier and less painful to receive than the current injected treatments. Fumio Takaiwa, at the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences in Japan, says the fact that the new vaccine is plant-based also means it can be stored as seeds at room temperature for long periods.Current allergen immunotherapy consists of repeated shots of small amounts of the allergen that allow the patient to build up immunity. But these treatments can carry a small risk of producing a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction in the patient.Takaiwa’s method employs a technique called peptide immunotherapy which only uses specific parts of the allergen protein to produce a vaccine and so carries a smaller risk of anaphylactic shock.(Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1073 10.1073/pnas.0503428102): New Scientist: Gaia Vince: November 2005.)