Researcher Interview #3
Innovation Story
Mr. Motohiro Ebisawa
Director of Clinical Research Center, Sagamihara Hospital
Motohiro Ebisawa, Director of the Clinical Research Center, National Hospital Organization Sagamihara Hospital and President of the Japanese Society of Allergology
He has served as an allergy physician at the National Children's Hospital, a pediatric physician at the National Sagamihara Hospital, a chief physician at the same hospital, director of the Pathological Research Department at the Clinical Research Center at the same hospital, and director of the Allergic Disease Research Department at the same hospital, before assuming his current position. He also served as president of the World Allergy Organization (WAO).
Allergy-reducing eggs are a blessing for egg allergy sufferers
Hypoallergenic eggs created using genome editing technology
Is it really safe for people with egg allergies to eat this?
The person conducting research to confirm this important point within the project is Dr. Motohiro Ebisawa, Director of the Clinical Research Center at the National Hospital Organization Sagamihara Hospital. Dr. Ebisawa has worked hard to create medical and social systems that not only help food allergy sufferers through medical treatment, but also reduce the burden on those around them and eliminate allergy-related accidents from the world.
What do you think about the potential for hypoallergenic eggs?
Medical validation will be carried out in two stages
--First, please tell us specifically what kind of research you are conducting.
Ebisawa Food allergies develop when the body's IgE antibodies react to allergens. People with egg allergies have IgE antibodies that react to egg white allergens such as ovomucoid and ovalbumin. We therefore use allergy-reducing eggs and preserved serum from allergy patients to examine IgE reactivity. Although it has been confirmed that the eggs used in this study do not contain ovomucoid, we will be verifying whether the reactivity with the patient's serum is truly suppressed. This is the first step.
--What is the second stage?
Ebisawa The next step is to conduct research to verify whether it is really safe for patients to ingest the food. After submitting an application for ethical research, and obtaining consent from the patient, an oral food challenge test (a test in which a food that is confirmed or suspected to be an allergy is ingested in a single or multiple doses to check for symptoms) is conducted.
What prompted you to get involved in this project?
Ebisawa I have been working with Kewpie Research Laboratories on oral food challenge tests since 1993. Around 2000, I built a nationwide oral food challenge test network consisting of about 30 facilities and started accumulating data, which was also done with the cooperation of Kewpie. It was with this background that I was approached about this project.
--What were your thoughts when you heard about the project?
Ebisawa I thought it was a very promising idea. Genetically modified foods are often not accepted in Japan, but these allergy-reducing eggs were produced using genome editing technology and are not genetically modified. It would be wonderful if they could be accepted by the general public by being made using a mechanism that occurs in nature. Allergies are a big burden not only for the person but also for their families, so I thought it would be great if these eggs could be made and accepted by children.
--How many people actually have egg allergies?
Ebisawa Egg allergies are the most common food allergy in Japan. This data is for allergies to cooked eggs, and it begins at age 0, with the prevalence rate at about 10%. After that, by age 3, it drops to about 5%, and by the time children enter elementary school, it's about 2%. The ratio by age has remained almost unchanged recently. However, I would like to reiterate that these figures are for cooked eggs, so if raw eggs were the subject, the figures are expected to be higher.
Reduced quality of life for patients and their families
--You mentioned earlier that food allergies are a big burden not only for the individual but also for their families.
Ebisawa One of the problems is that food allergies can significantly reduce a person's quality of life. They may not be able to go out to eat with their family, they may not be able to go on overnight trips, and they may not be able to exchange snacks with their friends from an early age. These are all handicaps that people with food allergies have to bear.
There is nothing more frightening than an allergy occurring through the everyday act of "eating," which is necessary for life. Many parents have experienced anaphylaxis in their babies after feeding them baby food for the first time, leaving them traumatized.
Unfortunately, many people do not understand that these are problems. It is essential that those in the environment surrounding children have a correct understanding of food allergies and protect children.
--What was the trigger that made you see tackling allergies as your own mission?
Ebisawa I saw so many people suffering and being made unhappy by food allergies, and I felt that I wanted to help these people somehow.
With this in mind, Dr. Ebisawa has continued to work to bring change not only in his medical practice and research at the hospital, but also in society as a whole.
To give a few examples, Japan was the first country in the world to make allergy labeling mandatory on processed foods in 2002, and Mr. Ebisawa was the person who led this initiative.
In 2006, oral food challenge testing was made eligible for medical treatment. Since then, he has been teaching doctors across the country how to conduct food challenge tests.
We continued our activities, such as collaborating with Kewpie to distribute challenge test meals free of charge, and helped establish oral food challenge tests in Japan.
In addition to these, we are also working on allergy prevention measures for schools and daycare centers.
It has also played a major role in introducing EpiPen, an auxiliary treatment for anaphylaxis, to Japan.
In both cases, this was made possible by overcoming the barrier of lack of understanding about food allergies from those around them through persistent persuasion.
Good news for patients and their families
--Based on your experience in undertaking numerous initiatives to reduce the burden on patients and their families, what do you think are the possibilities for hypoallergenic eggs? Let me ask you again.
Ebisawa The eggs used in this study have had the ovomucoid removed, but while the amount of ovomucoid contained in eggs is small compared to ovalbumin, another allergen, it has the characteristic of having a strong allergy-inducing power. Whether or not removing this ovomucoid is effective remains to be verified, but if it proves to be effective, it will be very good news for patients with egg allergies. It will be good news for patients and their families.
I have participated in many collaborative research projects to date, and am currently involved in other projects, but I have never seen a case where the food itself related to allergies has been modified. In that sense, I think this is a groundbreaking project.
--I hope this will be a great help to those and their families who suffer from egg allergies.
Please tell us how you plan to tackle the issue of food allergies, not just egg allergies, in the future.
Ebisawa There are many challenges surrounding food allergies. There is a certain number of patients with food allergies that are difficult to cure, and for these patients, we are trying an approach called oral immunotherapy, but it has not yet become available in general medical practice.
There are also very expensive drugs called biological agents that are beginning to be used in other areas of allergies, such as atopic dermatitis and asthma, and clinical trials are currently being conducted for food allergies. We would like to somehow introduce these new drugs into the field of food allergies.
In the social sphere, we must also take measures against allergies in the restaurant and hotel industries. There is a lot that needs to be done.
