If you love cats, but your allergy-prone eyes and nose can't stand them, here's some good news: scientists from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. are working on a vaccine that appears to treat cat allergies.

About 8 to 10 per cent of the population is allergic to cats. For most of them, they've had three choices: get rid of the cat; keep the cat but take daily doses of antihistamines; or try a regimen of costly -- and sometimes risky -- allergy shots, also called immunotherapy.

But now immunologist Mark Larche, a professor at McMaster's Department of Medicine has developed a vaccine that can help.

The vaccine has been 10 years in the making. It was developed by taking a protein that cats emit in their dander that appears to cause the majority of cat allergy problems. 

While traditional allergy shots use an extract that contains the whole protein, to create this vaccine, Larche's team deconstructed the protein to narrow in on the key regions that activate those T-cells that cause the immune systems of allergy sufferers to go into overdrive.

They found seven of these peptides (strings of amino acids) and then made synthetic versions of these peptides. The synthetic peptides were then used to create the "peptide immunotherapy" vaccine.

When the vaccine is administered into the skin through four to eight doses a year, allergy symptoms are either reduced or eliminated. What's more, unlike traditional allergy shots, this vaccine seems to cause few side effects.

Results of the initial testing of the vaccine on a small group of patients were published in a recent issue of the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology. That testing, conducted on about 300 patients, determined the vaccine was safe and well tolerated when given as a single dose.

It also found that the vaccine reduced and prevented symptoms "for a prolonged period," Larche said. The hope is that the vaccine will at least be able to turn severe allergies into mild allergies.

"Right now, we think that a short course of four shots will protect for at least one year and maybe much more," he explained in an email to CTV.ca.

Now, the research team is working on phase three clinical trials to determine the optimal dose using a much-larger group of cat allergy sufferers. That testing should help determine whether a single course of shots will confer lifelong protection, or whether an annual booster will be required.

The vaccine is being developed with Adiga Life Sciences. It is a joint venture between McMaster University and Circassia Ltd., a U.K.-based biotech company.

And if your problem isn't cats, but dust or ragweed, there's more good news. Adiga and McMaster are also collaborating on peptide immunotherapy research for house dust mites and ragweed, as well as grass, birch tree and moulds.