New Treatments: Beta-escin

Horse-chestnut Tree Seed

In May of 2010, a study was conducted by researchers Lindner, Meier, Url, Unger, Grassauer, Prieschl-Grassauer and Doerfler from Marinomed Biotechnologie GmbH in Vienna, Austria and published in BMC immunology. The study focused on the use of beta-escin to treat Type I hypersensitivity or allergic reaction. Beta-escin is the major active ingredient in Aesculus hippocastanum or Horse-chestnut tree seed extracts. Due to its anti-inflammatory properties, it has been used for many conditions, such as hemorrhoids or swollen veins in the rectum. However, there have been no prior experiments to test the use of beta-escin in subjects with allergies.

In the study, researchers divided the mice subjects into three categories: pre-treated with beta-escin, dexamethasone or sodium chloride. Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid that will reduce inflammation, so it can be used to prevent allergic reactions. Sodium chloride has no effect and simply serves as a control. After pre-treatment with a designated compound, an allergic reaction was induced in the mice at varying times. The researchers found that beta-escin was comparable to and sometimes more effective than dexamethasone. Earlier pre-treatment with beta-escin produced protective effects for at least six hours, preventing allergen-IgE-mediated mast cell activation. Later pre-treatment with beta-escin reduced the inflammatory response already started by mast cell activation. Beta-escin also inhibited the release of cytokines from TH2 helper cells, decreasing later activation of mast cells.

As promising as these results appear, this study focused on the use of oral beta-escin to treat allergy-associated inflammation of the airways. Experiments on the eyes were not conducted, so we don't really know the safety profile of beta-escin when used in eye drop form. However, the fact that the compound countered the allergic reaction, gives hope that it can effectively reduce inflammation of the conjunctiva.

The benefit of beta-escin, is that it is a natural and relatively safe product. Long-term use of anti-histamines and corticosteroids, like dexamethasone, have unfavorable side effects and serious complications that make them less safe. Beta-escin has a much better safety profile, so it could be an alternative for patients wanting to the avoid the side effects of other medications. Of course beta-escin must be tested further and long-term clinical trials must be conducted to determine if it has long-term safety, but the results look promising. It will be interesting to see how this compound develops over the next couple of years.