FED:Peanut allergy treatment breakthrough

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-2010
FED:Peanut allergy treatment breakthrough

By Danny Rose, AAP Medical Writer

SYDNEY, Dec 10 AAP - Australian scientists have identified "fragments" of a peanut's
make-up that could underpin the world's first treatment for the often lethal food allergy.

The research identified peanut proteins that lab tests showed were able to interact
with immune cells from an allergic person, and so build tolerance, but they showed no
sign of triggering anaphylaxis.

"These dominant fragments are the best candidates for a peanut allergy vaccine," said
Professor Robyn O'Hehir who led the research at Melbourne's The Alfred hospital and Monash
University.

"Immunotherapy is commonly used to treat people who are allergic to wasp and bee stings
(where) protein extracts from the venom are given in increasing doses to desensitise the
individual.

"Until now, peanuts have been regarded as too dangerous an allergy-provoker to try
immunotherapy, however the latest discovery overcomes this problem."

Prof O'Hehir said the peanut proteins could be translated into a therapy able to be
go into clinical trials within three years and, if proven safe and effective, a world-first
treatment could follow "within five to seven years".

It would not be a once-off jab but instead people with the potentially lethal allergy
would have a series of injections, over weeks or months, to gradually increase their tolerance.

The same research team has also made recent headway with grass pollen, with a desensitising
therapy now in a clinical trial in the US.

Peanut allergy is the most common cause of life-threatening food reactions, including
anaphylaxis.

Prof O'Hehir said about one in every hundred in the population have peanut allergy
and, of these, about one in four can have a life-threatening reaction.

"We also know this is a growing problem but we don't know why peanut allergy is becoming
more common," she said.

"It is a huge burden on the community - I think everybody knows somebody with a peanut
allergy - and there are certainly more foods with hidden peanuts.

"So this would be a huge benefit to patients, to have an effective and safe vaccine
to treat peanut allergy."

The only approach now available to these people was to avoid all food containing peanuts
and to carry an emergency dose of adrenaline should they accidentally eat the wrong thing.

The research was supported by the Ilhan Food Allergy Foundation, and is published in
the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

AAP dr/jh

KEYWORD: PEANUT

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