Allergy rates have skyrocketed globally in just the past few decades, accounting for substantial global health care costs. Allergy represents a highly exaggerated, often self-detrimental immune response to one or several environmental antigens. However, allergens neither cause allergic sensitization in every individual nor is an individual universally sensitized to every allergen. Though acknowledging both genetic components and environmental factors as key drivers of allergy development, no current approach to allergy can explain or predict why specific allergies develop in different individuals.

At Tregeutix we are developing a novel discovery framework dubbed SPIRAL that uncovers how selective deficiencies in thymus-derived Treg repertoire specific for antigens (epitopes) cross-reactive between specific microbiota and allergens underlie specific allergies in sensitized individuals.

SPIRAL allows systematic discovery of specific members of microbiota that maintain antigen-specific Foxp3⁺ regulatory T cells involved in protection against specific (cross-reactive) allergens and accelerates the development of specific and durable immunotherapeutic appoaches to restore tolerance to allergens in sensitized individuals.