Five developments involving peanut allergy, oral immunotherapy

Recent research regarding developments in peanut allergy and oral immunotherapies has been presented in Healio Allergy/Immunology. Here are some highlights:

Modified food challenge for peanut allergy could determine thresholds

A modified oral food challenge in children with peanut allergy showed a median latency of clinical reaction of 55 minutes that could determine real-life threshold levels of peanut allergy, according to results of a German study.

“This modified food challenge procedure might better reflect threshold levels for peanut allergy than the standard procedure because most of the patients reacted at a time interval of greater than 30 minutes,” the researchers said. Read more

OIT desensitized children with peanut allergy of any severity

Oral immunotherapy yielded positive desensitization in children with peanut allergy of any severity, with a clinically meaningful increase in peanut threshold.

“Daily doses of peanut [oral immunotherapy] of up to 800 mg protein had a clinically meaningful effect, shown by a high incidence of desensitization, large absolute and fold increases in threshold, and a significant improvement in quality-of-life score,” Katherine Anagnostou, PhD, of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK, and colleagues wrote. Read more

N.C. A&T process to reduce peanut allergens could benefit immunotherapy

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has signed a licensing agreement with Xemerge for a patented process that reduces allergens in peanuts by 98%.

“Treated peanuts can be used in immunotherapy,” Jianmei Yu, PhD, a food and nutrition researcher at the university and a developer of the process, said. “Under a doctor’s supervision, the hypoallergenic peanuts can build up a patient’s resistance to the allergens.” With Perspective. Read more

Basophil activation testing measured peanut oral immunotherapy desensitization

Sarita Patil

Basophil activation testing showed that a decrease in the log-transformed area under the curve measurements correlated with desensitization in peanut oral immunotherapy, according to research presented at the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology annual congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“Basophil activation testing may have a role for diagnosing and monitoring food allergies,” researcher Sarita Patil, MD, instructor, Harvard Medical School, and attending physician in allergy and immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital, said. Read more

The effect of peanut oral immunotherapy may not be permanent

Prolonged avoidance of peanuts after peanut oral immunotherapy may reverse the effects observed with the treatment, according to A. Wesley Burks, MD, FAAAAI, chair of the department of pediatrics and physician-in-chief of North Carolina Children’s Hospital, during a presentation at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology annual meeting in San Diego. See video