Insect-bite hypersensitivity is the most common allergic dermatitis in horses. Excoriated skin lesions are typical symptoms of this seasonal and refractory chronic disease. On a cellular level, the skin lesions are characterized by massive eosinophil infiltration caused by an underlying allergic response.

To target these cells and treat disease, we developed a therapeutic vaccine against equine IL-5 (eIL-5), the master regulator of eosinophils.

The vaccine consisted of eIL-5 covalently linked to a virus-like particle derived from cucumber mosaic virus containing the tetanus toxoid universal T-cell epitope tt830-843 (CMV_TT). Thirty-four Icelandic horses were recruited and immunized with 400 μg of eIL-5–CMV_TT formulated in PBS without adjuvant (19 horses) or PBS alone (15 horses).

The vaccine was well tolerated and did not reveal any safety concerns but was able to induce anti–eIL-5 autoantibody titers in 17 of 19 horses. This resulted in a statistically significant reduction in clinical lesion scores when compared with previous season levels, as well as levels in placebo-treated horses. Protection required a minimal threshold of anti–eIL-5 antibodies. Clinical improvement by disease scoring showed that 47% and 21% of vaccinated horses reached 50% and 75% improvement, respectively. In the placebo group no horse reached 75% improvement, and only 13% reached 50% improvement.

Our therapeutic vaccine inducing autoantibodies against self IL-5 brings biologics to horses, is the first successful immunotherapeutic approach targeting a chronic disease in horses, and might facilitate development of a similar vaccine against IL-5 in human subjects.