Remedy for Peanut Allergies On The Horizon
A Duke University food allergy expert reported this week that immunotherapy to rid a person of a peanut allergy would likely be available within the next five years.
Typically appearing in the first three years of life, peanut allergies produce reactions that include skin reactions such as hives and itching, diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, wheezing and, in severe cases, life-threatening anaphylaxis.
And while many children outgrow other food allergies, such as milk or eggs, only about 20 percent lose their peanut allergy.
"I think there’s some type of immunotherapy that will be available in five years. And the reason I say that is that there are multiple types of studies that are ongoing now," said Dr. Wesley Burks, a food allergy expert at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, in an Associated Press telephone interview.
Ideally, such a therapy would change a person’s immune response to peanuts from an allergic one to a nonallergic one, Burks said.
He said one possible approach is using engineered peanut proteins as immunotherapy. Other approaches, including the use of Chinese herbs, have also shown promise. Additionally, genetic engineering may one day produce an allergen-free peanut, Burks said.
However, the process of altering enough of the many peanut proteins could make the result something no longer considered a peanut.
"You could end up with a soybean," Burks said.
About 1 percent of children under age 5 are allergic to peanuts, a number that has increased over the past 15 years. Burk cited research that found the rate had doubled among young children from 0.4 percent in 1997 to 0.8 percent in 2002. Although the underlying reason is not yet clear, one theory is the “hygiene hypothesis”, which points to insufficient exposure in early childhood to infectious agents that raise a person’s susceptibility to allergic reactions.
Other research has found that pregnant women who consume peanuts increased their babies’ chances of becoming allergic, Burks said.
Dr. Burks report was published May 3 in the journal Lancet.
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