Top-level science through the eyes of an expert.

The sixth webinar in the Naked Immunology series is now scheduled on October 12, 2023 at 8 a.m. (PST), 11 a.m. (EST), 5 p.m. (CET). The webinar is open to English-speaking participants with a solid scientific background. Featured speaker is Dr. Laurent Reber, Laboratory Director at the Toulouse Institute for Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases (INFINITy, France) and Principal Investigator at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM, France).

The incidence of allergies has dramatically increased over the last three decades in industrialized countries. Among all allergies, allergic asthma and food allergy are major public health problems now each affecting more than 220 million people worldwide. Allergies are considered to result from a breakdown of tolerance, resulting in type 2 immune responses characterized by the production of TH2 cytokines such as IL-4 and IL-13, high levels of IgE antibodies, and infiltration and expansion of immune cells (in particular mast cells, basophils, eosinophils and T cells) within the inflamed tissue. Therapeutic antibodies targeting the IL-4/IL-13 or IgE pathways are approved for the treatment of allergic asthma and in clinical evaluation for other allergic diseases, but are costly and require frequent reinfusions in order to maintain clinical efficacy.

Dr. Reber will present recent data resulting from a collaborative project between the French biotech NEOVACS, the INSERM and Institut Pasteur, in which they developed conjugate vaccines, named kinoids, directed against IL-4, IL-13 or IgE. He will show preclinical data demonstrating that these vaccines promote neutralizing antibody responses against IL-4/IL-13/IgE and long-term protection in models of allergic asthma and anaphylaxis (the most severe clinical manifestation of allergy). Therefore, these kinoid vaccines represent promising, cost-effective, long-term therapeutic strategies for the treatment of allergic diseases.