In 2017, Eric Wambre, PhD, announced he had identified a cell, called TH2A, that appears to cause all allergies – and dozens of media outlets hailed the discovery’s potential to transform diagnosis and treatment.
“Allergies happen when the body overreacts to a substance like pollen or peanuts,” Dr. Wambre says. “We found that TH2A cells help cause this overreaction.”
This opened the door to developing a test that could detect TH2A cells and identify when patients have allergies. Even better, researchers could pursue therapies that target TH2A cells and stop allergies.
It was the sort of breakthrough that scientists like Dr. Wambre dream of, but he knew it would take years to translate it into real-world progress for patients. Fortunately, he and his team are moving fast.
“We’re partnering with pharmaceutical companies to evaluate exciting new allergy therapies,” Dr. Wambre says, “and we’re exploring how drugs can block TH2A cells and maybe stop allergies altogether.”
