JUST THE BASICS

In 2020, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. This technology allows scientists to target a very specific gene sequence and change it. With this exciting technology, would it be possible to create a hypoallergenic cat? This cartoon would argue not! Some cat allergens serve important functions in the cat, and removing them could be harmful.

TELL ME SOMETHING NERDY

The most common cat allergen is called Fel d 1, so named because it was the first allergen discovered in the cat Felis domesticus. This allergen is a bit mysterious - we have no idea what Fel d 1 does, just that it is made in the skin and saliva of all cats. Thus, we don’t know if removing Fel d 1 would cause problems for our furry friends.

Fel d 1 is not the only cat allergen, though. There are seven other known cat allergens (similarly labeled as Fel d 2 through Fel d 8), some of them with important functions in skin health, immunity, and hormone transport. Removing these would be difficult to impossible without affecting the health of the cat, which is why allergists say there is no such thing as a “hypoallergenic” pet!

Cartoon published in the January 2024 Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anai.2023.08.013