Reduction in allergenicity of grass pollen by genetic engineering

BACKGROUND: Hay fever and allergic asthma triggered by grass pollen allergens affect approximately 20% of the population in cool temperate climates. Ryegrass is the dominant source of allergens due to its prodigious airborne pollen production. Lol p 5 or group 5 is among the most important and widespread grass pollen allergen because it reacts with IgE antibodies of more than 90% of grass pollen-allergic patients, contains most of the grass pollen-specific IgE epitopes and elicits strong biological responses. Significant efforts have been made in developing diagnostic and therapeutic reagents for designing new and more effective immunotherapeutic strategies for treatment of allergic diseases. An alternative approach to this problem could be to reduce the amount of allergen content in the source plant. METHODS: High velocity microprojectile bombardment was used to genetically engineer ryegrass. Antisense construct targeted to one of major allergen, Lol p 5, was introduced. The expression of antisense RNA was regulated by a pollen-specific promoter. Pollen was analysed for IgE reactivity. RESULTS: Analysis of proteins with allergen-specific monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies did not detect Lol p 5 in the transgenic pollen. The transgenic pollen showed remarkably reduced allergenicity as reflected by low IgE binding capacity of pollen extract as compared to control pollen. The transgenic ryegrass plants in which Lol p 5 gene expression is perturbed showed normal fertile pollen development. CONCLUSIONS: Our studies showed that it is possible to selectively 'switch off' allergen production in pollen of ryegrass demonstrating feasibility of genetic engineering of plants for reduced allergenicity.