More work on peanut allergen desensitisation

To determine if incremental doses of peanut protein could change how the body's immune system responds, researchers at Duke University Medical Centre and Arkansas Children's Hospital have conducted a trial on 33 peanut-allergic children.

The initial doses started at 1/1000 of a peanut, but eight to 10 months later, the children were able to ingest the equivalent of up to 15 peanuts per day without adverse effects.

Patients were reportedly recruited to the study five years ago, with nine of the 33 children participating in the study having been on daily maintenance therapy for more than 2.5 years. Following a series of food challenge tests, five of the nine children have been able to stop the daily-dose therapy and continue to consume peanuts as part of their normal diet. Some of the children have abstained from peanuts for a period of weeks, yet still reported no reaction when peanuts are subsequently consumed.

Medical staff continue to monitor the children for potential changes in their immune system via skin, blood and immune studies. Tests of several immunologic indicators suggest the five children have built a tolerance, if not lost their allergy. However, it is difficult with such small study numbers to determine whether these children would have outgrown their allergies without therapy.

Therefore, the next step is a blinded study in which children on treatment are compared to a control group. Preliminary findings from this study suggest the oral immune therapy appears to be having a positive impact on the patients’ tolerance to peanut protein.