Xolair works by targeting an immune-system molecule called immunoglobulin E (IgE), a crucial defensive weapon that goes into overdrive in many patients with allergic asthma.
Like Antigenics' other cancer therapies, the vaccine programs the immune system to recognize a particular molecule present in many kinds of cancer, called a heat-shock protein.
The bacteria interacts with a molecule called IL-8 which should act as the messenger to rally other parts of the immune system to attack the "invader".