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| |  Peanut Therapy Can Help Children Achieve Long-Term Tolerance of Allergy DURHAM, NC -- March 16, 2009 -- A carefully administered daily dose of peanuts has been successful as a therapy for peanut allergies in children, and has allowed a select group to achieve tolerance, y, report doctors at Duke University Medical Center and Arkansas Children's Hospital. "It appears these children have lost their allergies," said Wesley Burks, MD, Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina. "This gives other parents and children hope that we'll soon have a safe, effective treatment that will halt allergies to certain foods." Long-term tolerance in children with peanut allergies was documented for the first time by the presence of key immunologic changes, said researchers today the American Academy of Asthma and Immunology meeting. Tests of several immunologic indicators suggest the body builds tolerance quickly. "At the start of the study, these participants couldn't tolerate one-sixth of a peanut, said Dr. Burks. "Six months into it, they were ingesting 13 to 15 peanuts before they had a reaction." The researchers began enrolling patients in studies 5 years ago to determine if incremental doses of peanut protein could change how the body's immune system responds to its presence. The doses were as small as 1/1000 of a peanut. About 8 to 10 months later, the children were ingesting the equivalent of up to 15 peanuts per day. The children have been able to stay on that daily therapy for several years and are being monitored closely. Of the 33 children participating in the study, 9 have been on maintenance therapy for more than 2.5 years. After a series of food challenges, 4 of those children were taken off the treatment and continued to eat peanuts. Some have been off treatment for more than a year. Physicians continue to monitor any potential changes in their immune system via skin, blood, and immune studies. Because the pool of children now off treatment is so small, Dr. Burks said it's difficult to say whether these children simply outgrew their allergies or if the therapy did something to enhance that outcome. The next step is a blinded study in which children on treatment are compared to a control group. Dr. Burks insists this research is still ongoing and cautions parents and professionals against trying any version on their own. "In my clinic, I would do the same things I've always done. Once diagnosed with a food allergy, I would recommend they avoid the food. We have to wait for the studies to show the treatment is safe, and to see desensitisation start to work. We also want to know the therapy works long term." SOURCE: Duke University Medical Center
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