Abstract. Peptide immunotherapy is an attractive approach to relieve allergic symptoms such as rhinitis and asthma. Treatment of Japanse cedar pollinosis (Cryptomeria japonica; Cj), from which over one quarter of Japanese population suffer, is becoming a great concern. Recently, oral feeding of a peptide (7crp) consisting of seven immunodominant human T cell epitopes derived from two enzymes present in Cj pollen was demonstrated to have a benefit in treating Cj pollinosis. In this work, we aimed to apply a novel transcutaneous administration system as a simple and easy peptide delivery for an immunotherapy using a T cell epitope peptide. A modified 7crp peptide (7crpR) which contained triarginine linkers between each epitopes was designed to increase water solubility and was encapsulated in a unique solid-in-oil (S/O) nanodispersion. The S/O nanodispersion consists of a nano-sized peptide-surfactant complex dispersed in an oil vehicle. The S/O nanopartilces having an average diameter of 230 nm facilitated the permeation of the peptide 7crpR into the skin and suppressed serum total IgE and antigen-specific IgE levels in a Cj pollinosis mouse model. Transcutaneous administration of the T cell epitope peptide using the S/O nanodispersion system has potential for future simple and easy immunotherapy of Cj pollinosis.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.