Published Research Highlights of 2008

E-Mail Print Bookmark and Share

Clinical characteristics of peanut-allergic children: Recent changes
Green TD, LaBelle VS, Steele PH, Kim EH, Lee LA, Mankad VS, Williams LW, Anstrom KJ, Burks AW.
Pediatrics. 2007;120:1304-10.
Researchers analyzed information from pediatric allergy patients to determine if first reactions to peanut are occurring at an earlier age than in the past. They examined the medical files of 70 patients born between 1998 and 1999 and 70 patients born between 2000 and 2006. The results suggest that peanut allergy may be beginning at a younger age.
View abstract

The natural history of IgE-mediated cow’s milk allergy
Skripak JM, Matsui EC, Mudd K, Wood RA.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2007;120:1172-7. Epub 2007 Nov 1.
Researchers analyzed information from more than 800 patients to determine when they outgrew milk allergy and whether there were factors that could predict when they would be able to tolerate milk. 
View abstract

The natural history of egg allergy
Savage JH, Matsui EC, Skripak JM, Wood, RA.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2007;120:1413-7.
Scientists sought to estimate the proportion of children with egg allergy who become tolerant to egg and to identify factors that predicted whether they would become tolerant. The researchers examined the medical records of 881 patients in a pediatric allergy clinic. 
View abstract

Platelet activating factor, PAF acetylhydrolase, and severe anaphylaxis
Vadas P, Gold M, Perelman B, Liss GM, Lack G, Blyth T, Simons FE, Simons KJ, Cass D, Yeung
J. N Engl J Med. 2008;358:28-35.
A two-part study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in which platelet activating factor, or PAF, was measured in individuals with anaphylaxis and compared to measurements in individuals without anaphylaxis. PAF is involved in the inflammation that occurs during anaphylaxis. 
View abstract

Early predictors of remission of peanut allergy in children
Ho MH, Wong WH, Heine RG, Hosking CS, Hill DJ, Allen KJ.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;121:731-6. Epub 2008 Jan 30.
Scientists from Australia set out to see if there are factors in early life that may predict whether a child will outgrow a peanut allergy. They followed 267 children from before they turned 2 until they were 8 years old, and concluded that children with low levels of IgE antibodies to peanut in the first 2 years of life or decreasing levels by the age of 3 are likely to outgrow their peanut allergy. 
View abstract

Specific oral tolerance induction in children with very severe cow’s milk-induced reactions
Longo G, Barbi E, Berti I, Meneghetti R, Pittalis A, Ronfani L, Ventura A.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;121:343-7.
A team of researchers in Italy has published the first study to examine a potential treatment called specific oral tolerance induction (SOTI) for children with very severe allergy to milk. The team set out to test whether SOTI is safe and effective for these children and concluded that SOTI increased tolerance to milk in enough participants to warrant further, longer-term study of the effectiveness and safety for children with severe milk allergy. 
View abstract

Analysis of food-allergic and anaphylactic events in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System
Ross MP, Ferguson M, Street D, Klontz K, Schroeder T, Luccioli S.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;121:166-71.
The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) collects information from emergency departments (EDs) throughout the United States. The researchers used NEISS data to estimate the number of food-allergic reactions treated in U.S. emergency departments, and estimated that 20,821 ED visits occurred in the U.S. during the two-month period.
View abstract

Rush oral immunotherapy in children with persistent cow’s milk allergy
Staden U, Blumchen K, Blankenstein N, Dannenberg N, Ulbricht H, Dobberstein K, Ziegert M, Niggemann B, Wahn U, Beyer K.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;Jul 3.[Epub]
In 2006, FAAN began funding a peanut and milk immunotherapy study. The goal of the study is to determine if immunotherapy given for a short period of time (“rushed”) is safe and effective. The first results were published in July for milk immunotherapy. These results provide preliminary evidence that rush oral immunotherapy is safe for some children and may protect them from a serious allergic reaction in case of accidental ingestion of milk. This treatment is still experimental and should be done only in the context of a clinical study and never at home. 
View abstract

Use of multiple doses of epinephrine in food-induced anaphylaxis in children
Järvinen KM, Sicherer SH, Sampson HA, Nowak- Wegrzyn A.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;122:133-8.
This study sought to examine how often multiple doses of epinephrine were used to treat anaphylactic reactions in children. The findings also suggest that individuals who required multiple doses of epinephrine may have had more severe symptoms to begin with and that those symptoms may have worsened more quickly. Patients who received multiple doses of epinephrine were more likely to have asthma than those who received a single dose, a finding consistent with those of other studies.
View abstract

Tolerance to extensively heated milk in children with cow’s milk allergy
Nowak-Wegrzyn A, Bloom KA, Sicherer SH, Shreffler WG, Noone S, Wanich N, Sampson HA.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;Jul 10. [Epub]
This study investigated whether children with milk allergy could tolerate milk that had been extensively heated in baking. The research team also investigated immunological differences between those who tolerated extensively heated milk and those who did not.
View abstract

Immunologic changes in children with egg allergy ingesting extensively heated egg
Lemon-Mulé H, Sampson H, Sicherer S, Shreffler W, Noone S, Nowak-Wegrzyn A.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;122:977-83.
This study was performed to see if children allergic to egg could safely eat heated egg. The researchers supervised an oral food challenge for 117 children. The researchers found that neither wheal sizes nor antibody levels enabled them to predict which children would tolerate heated egg and which would not. 
View abstract

 

Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability

The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network serves only as a point of contact for the research projects listed on this web page. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network does not endorse and is not affiliated in any other way with these research projects, unless otherwise noted. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network makes no promises or warranties, expressed and implied, as to the appropriateness of any given research project listed on this Web site. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network disclaims all warranties of fitness for a particular purpose and merchantability as to all such matters. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network will not be liable under any circumstances for any damages arising from participation in any of the research projects listed on this Web site, whether such losses are special, incidental, consequential, or otherwise.