{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Gene Therapy for Treating Root Cause of Severe Food Allergies with Dr. Sid Kerkar AllerGene AI","description":" Dr. Sid Kerkar, CEO and Founder of AllerGene AI Therapeutics, is developing in vivo gene therapy for severe food allergies, where symptoms are currently treated rather than root causes. AllerGene AI is targeting mast cells, which are immune cells responsible for triggering allergic reactions, and their approach represents a significant opportunity to prevent these reactions. Unlike traditional cell therapy, this technology modifies cells within the body to recognize and eliminate armed mast cells, allowing the body to repopulate with non-reactive cells, preventing severe allergic reactions and establishing long-lasting immune tolerance. Sid explains, "Today, millions of people suffer from food allergies in the US and worldwide. And that's a spectrum from just the mild symptoms that cause discomfort to the really severe kind, which can lead to life-threatening issues. And for us as a company, that's where we focus and where the biggest need is to come up with new treatments that can help prevent these life-threatening events from happening."   "A lot of it is symptom management, and EpiPens are a staple. Everyone who has had a severe reaction or may have one has to carry one around that can help prevent you from having the cardiac and lung issues that cause death. But there's no real treatment that can prevent someone from having these severe reactions. And this is where we're focused: treating the root cause of these severe reactions in the hope that we can develop a treatment that can prevent these terrible reactions from happening." "The triggers can be wide-ranging, from many different food products such as peanuts or seafood or milk. It could be anything really that can sensitize one to have a reaction. And even beyond food, all other types of allergens like bee stings can cause a reaction. We know the cell type that is central to these reactions, and it's a cell type called a mast cell."  #AllerGeneAI #MastCells #AllergicReaction #SevereAllergy #FoodAllergy #AllergyGeneTherapy #GeneTherapy allergene.ai Download the transcript here ","author_name":"Empowered Patient Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/empoweredpatient.libsyn.com\/podcast","html":"