Up to 1,200 patients are enrolling in an international study to evaluate a new form of allergy immunotherapy which, if successful, will require as few as four allergy shots, given monthly, to rid a patient of an allergy to cat dander.

Current immunotherapy for cats takes about three years and often more than a hundred shots to complete.

“Use of immunotherapy has always been limited by the long treatment required,” said allergist Dr. Harold Nelson of National Jewish Health in Denver, who is heading the project. “If the current study confirms earlier findings, it could be a major step forward for allergy treatment,” he said in a news release.

With traditional allergy immunotherapy, multiple injections of protein triggers like cat dander or pollen are given in small then increasing amounts over a long period of time. The idea is to gradually build tolerance and, ultimately, to desensitize the patient to the allergen. While this type of vaccination is currently the only way to treat the underlying allergic disease (rather than just allergy symptoms), it is a fairly invasive, costly and time-consuming, since patients must make numerous visits to the doctor.

Cat allergy is one of the most common allergic disorders, and a frequent trigger for asthma. The protein in cat dander that causes almost all symptoms is “fel d 1”, and the new vaccination therapy, called ToleroMune, works by injecting seven tiny protein fragments or “peptides” of this cat protein, as opposed to the whole protein.

By using the fragments, which aren’t large enough to provoke an allergic reaction, studies to date show that patients can become desensitized to cat much more rapidly and with far few side effects. Unlike the proteins used in traditional immunotherapy, as the protein fragments are not large enough to cause a reaction.

The study is expected to involve about 1,200 participants at National Jewish Health as well as at more than 100 centers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Researchers hope to confirm earlier findings which showed that after four shots of ToleroMune, which has been developed by the British firm Circassia Ltd., many patients became desensitized and remained so a year later.

Idea: Hypoallergenic Cat

What’s Involved: Genetically engineering a cat that doesn’t have the gene that makes Fel d 1 protein, which causes the majority of allergic reaction. Once a colony of hypoallergenic cats is established, kittens could be bred using “traditional” methods.

Where We Stand: In 2006 a company called Allerca Inc. claimed to have bred the world’s first hypoallergenic kittens and Time magazine hailed them as one of the best inventions of the year.

But the company and its founder have been the subject of controversy, with the media and a dedicated website questioning whether the firm, now called Lifestyle Pets, really has sneeze-free cats.

But this is not the only company in the hunt for the hypoallergenic kitty. Dr. David Avner, an emergency room physician in Denver, has been working with molecular biologists on silencing the Fel d 1 gene for years, and so far has come up empty-handed.

This past summer his team thought they had successfully knocked out the gene, which could lead to the breakthrough they’ve hoped for.

While Avner admits to being “optimistic” in predicting when his company, Felix Pets, will have cats on the market, he says there’s little doubt that in 10 years, a hypoallergenic cat will be in people’s homes.

“Without question, someone is going to do it. It’s too obvious an application of the technology, and the desire for people to have allergen-free cats is too high for it to go unrealized.”

Idea: Herbal Tablets for Asthma

What’s Involved: The Antiasthma Herbal Formula (ASHMI) is a tablet containing three traditional Chinese herbs. A study of patients in China shows it improves lung function and reduces use of bronchodilators.

Where We Stand: Dr. Xiu-Min Li at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and her colleagues continue to study ASHMI in mice and people, comparing it to using corticosteroids. New, unpublished data show that eight weeks after mice stop taking the corticosteroids, their asthma symptoms return when they are exposed to triggers.

However, the mice on the herbal formula are still protected eight weeks later. Safety studies in humans have been completed, and Phase 2 efficacy studies are continuing.

One of the benefits to using ASHMI, instead of a steroid, is that there are fewer side effects, such as weight gain. However, Li says corticosteroids will be the standard treatment for asthma for years to come.

“The practical protocol will be to have a herbal remedy that will reduce the steroid’s side effects and help to maintain the protective effect,” she says.

Idea: Quick-Acting Allergy Shots

What’s Involved: Currently, immunotherapy to environmental allergies such as trees, grass, ragweed and cats, sometimes called allergy shots, requires numerous needles over several years. The shots also carry the risk of anaphylaxis in some individuals. Now, a few companies are developing therapies to make the treatment process far shorter and also safer.