RICHMOND, Va. (June 20, 2007) -- A research team has identified a new biological function for a soccer ball-shaped nanoparticle called a buckyball the ability to block allergic response, setting the stage for the development of new therapies for allergy.
Allergic disease is the sixth leading cause of chronic disease in the United States, and while various treatments have been developed to control allergy, no cure has been found. These findings advance the emerging field of medicine known as nanoimmunology.
The researchers, from Virginia Commonwealth University and Luna Innovations Inc., a private, Roanoke, Va., research company, are the first to show that buckyballs are able to block allergic response in human cell culture experiments.
Buckyballs, or fullerenes, are nanoparticles containing 60 carbon atoms. Due to their unique structure, inertness and stability, researchers from a number of scientific fields have been investigating the tiny, hollow carbon cages to serve a variety of functions. In this study, researchers modified the buckyballs so that they were compatible with water. The new study findings were published online in the June 19 issue of the Journal of Immunology and will appear in the July 1 print issue of the journal.
This discovery is exciting because it points to the possibility that these novel materials can one day lead to new therapies, said Chris Kepley, Ph.D., M.B.A., assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology at the VCU School of Medicine.
Researchers in many fields are aware of the potential fullerenes have, however, we are the first to show they can turn off the allergic response and basic immune reactions, he said.
According to Kepley, who is the principal author of the paper, the buckyballs are able to interrupt the allergy/immune response by inhibiting a basic process in the cell that leads to the release of
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Contact: Sathya Achia-Abraham
sbachia@vcu.edu
804-827-0890
Virginia Commonwealth University
20-Jun-2007