Food allergy sufferers offered hope of new treatment

Jul 3 2007

In a joint UK and Italian study scientists say they have discovered a possible treatment for people who suffer from food allergies.

According to their research the introduction of a molecule usually absent during allergic responses could bring the allergies under control.

There are currently no recognised treatments for food allergies and sufferers are forced to avoid the culprit food and also ensure they have injectable adrenaline with them at all times, as the condition can be fatal, usually through anaphylactic shock.

By conducting laboratory tests on mice the researchers found that the molecule Interleukin-12 (Il-12) could help alleviate allergic reactions to food.

Dr. Claudio Nicoletti from the Institute of Food Research (IFR) says a food protein can be perfectly harmless to one person and lethal to another and they have identified the missing molecule that normally keeps immune responses under control and appropriate.

Dr. Nicoletti, the study leader and colleagues, had already done research which showed that special types of white blood cells called dendritic cells are important in helping the immune system decide on how to respond to foreign molecules.

They found that in allergic mice the dendritic cells are much longer lasting than normal, which over-stimulates the immune system.

With food allergies people's immune systems respond to the relevant proteins as if they were harmful, with the body producing immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies that are usually deployed to combat parasites.

Dr. Nicoletti says the identification of a molecule that is very important for the regulation of immune response represents a potential target for the therapy of such allergies.

Dr. Nicoletti says delivering an allergen, such as peanut, alongside the interleukin-12 molecule may help to bring allergic reactions back under control and he says further studies are being carried out with mice to test this theory.

Experts say food allergies can place an extremely heavy burden on the families affected and they have welcomed the research.