ePoster Presentation 49th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology 2021

A cure for food allergy? The immunomodulatory properties of Schistosoma mansoni egg-derived exosomes in food allergy. (#131)

Madeleine M Rogers 1 2 , Jagan J Billakanti 3 , Severine S Navarro 1 , Donald D McManus 2 , Catherine C Gordon 2 , Andreas A Moeller 4 , Malcolm M Jones 5 , Sandip S Kamath 6 , Yan Y Lu 1 , Athena A Andreosso 1 , Luize Goncalves Lima 4
  1. Mucosal Immunology, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research institute, Herston, QLD, Australia
  2. Molecular Parasitology, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research institute, Herston, QLD, Australia
  3. ANZ Product Specialist Downstream Design-In and Applications, Cytiva Life Sciences, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  4. Tumour Microenvironment, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research institute, Herston, QLD, Australia
  5. School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia
  6. Molecular Allergy Research Laboratory, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia

Food allergy is considered the “second wave” of the allergy epidemic after asthma and allergic rhinitis. The primary forms of therapy for food allergies are avoidance of trigger allergens, and the use of epinephrine for anaphylaxis. With the prevalence of food allergies increasing rapidly in many countries, it is essential to develop new and safe therapeutics. Helminth infections induce modified Th2 immune responses and regulatory T cells and have been shown to confer protection against food allergens. In fact, it was previously demonstrated that Schistosoma mansoni infections protect mice against penicillin V-induced anaphylaxis. Due to the deposition of eggs in surrounding tissues, S. mansoni infections carry their own risks; however, S. japonicum eggs produce exosomes and other modulatory compounds into the soluble egg antigen, which play essential roles in intercellular communication host immune response. There has been limited research into the therapeutic potential of helminth egg-derived exosomes in vivo, with most studies focusing on characterizing exosome contents rather than in vivo function. Therefore, this study aims to assess the safety and effectiveness of S. mansoni egg-derived exosomes and other egg-derived modulatory compounds as potential therapeutics for tropomyosin allergy and will furthermore provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms by which S. mansoni egg-derived products modulate host immune response. Additionally, the protocols used for purification of exosomes in this study are novel, scalable, and economical.