Allerca

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Allerca is a San Diego-based biotechnology company which claims to have bred hypoallergenic cats through a selective breeding process.

According to company literature, the company's cats have significantly reduced levels of a particular protein that humans suffer allergic reactions to.<ref name="release">Exposure Trial by Leading Allergist Shows ALLERCA Cat Is Hypoallergenic Allerca, Sept. 14, 2006</ref> The journal Nature reported in September, 2006 that in an Allerca-funded study, Sheldon Spector, a clinical allergy expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, found the company's cats to be less allergy-inducing than the control. However, neither the study nor its underlying data have been published.<ref name="nature">Allergy-free pets surprisingly simple, Nature, Michael Hopkin, Sept. 26, 2006</ref> A July 2006 article in the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that no details about the cats have been released, nor have there been any peer-reviewed studies published about the company's work.<ref name="questions">Questions trail local entrepreneur, San Diego Union-Tribune, Penni Crabtree, July 16, 2006</ref> Cat experts also questioned whether the company's breeding model - stated at the time to be up to 10,000 cats by 2009 - was viable.

[edit] Fel d 1

Most human cat allergies are caused by Fel d 1. Allerca scientists tried to delete or disable the gene. They later discovered a breed of cats that had a mutant version of the protein that did not induce an allergic response. The breeding cats are selectively bred to produce hypoallergenic cats.