Comparison of the immunogenicity of BM32, a recombinant hypoallergenic B cell epitope-based grass pollen allergy vaccine with allergen extract-based vaccines

According to the hapten carrier principle described by the Nobel laureate B. Benacerraf,E11 a robust antibody response can be obtained against a haptenic structure lacking T-cell epitopes if this structure is covalently bound to an unrelated carrier molecule, such as the PreS that contains T-cell epitopes.Carrier-specific T cells support antibody production against the carrier and the hapten.[...]the question was whether an allergen-specific IgG immune response initiated with BM32 can be boosted by repeated immunization with BM32.The induction of grass pollen allergen-specific IgG by 4 injections of Pollinex was also modest in allergic patients and only significant after the second treatment year.8,9 In the IgE inhibition experiments BM32-induced IgG blocked IgE binding to Phl p 2 significantly better than IgG antibodies induced by the commercial vaccines (P = .0008, Fig 2).[...]one might assume that BM32 could be superior to the extract-based vaccines regarding protection of group 2 allergen-induced symptoms.[...]we also could demonstrate that BM32-induced antibodies inhibited specifically grass pollen allergen-induced T-cell proliferation (see the Methods section and Fig E3 in this article's Online Repository at www.jacionline.org), which suggests that BM32 might also have beneficial effects on T cell-mediated late-phase symptoms of grass pollen allergy.