A group of researchers based in Japan and the United States believe that administering allergy shots to women during pregnancy could prevent their unborn children from developing allergies after birth and throughout their lives.
The researchers believe the special shots, which prevent offspring from producing specific antibodies that trigger allergic reactions, could effectively halt the development of human allergies including atopic dermatitis, asthma, pollen and food allergies. The teams hope the treatment could be commercialized within five to 10 years.
The scientists, who come from Japan's National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo's Jikei University School of Medicine and the California-based La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, have performed related experiments on mice.