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You are here: Home / Science & Technology / Breakthrough

Breakthrough

by @heymistermix.com|  October 13, 201112:54 pm| 39 Comments

This post is in: Science & Technology

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I hope this pans out:

Researchers have turned off a life-threatening allergic response to peanuts by tricking the immune system into thinking the nut proteins aren’t a threat to the body, according to a new preclinical study from Northwestern Medicine. The peanut tolerance was achieved by attaching peanut proteins onto blood cells and reintroducing them to the body — an approach that ultimately may be able to target more than one food allergy at a time. […]

It’s the first time this method for creating tolerance in the immune system has been used in allergic diseases. It has previously been used in autoimmune diseases.

The approach also has a second benefit. It creates a more normal, balanced immune system by increasing the number of regulatory T cells, immune cells important for recognizing the peanut proteins as normal.

The researchers believe their approach could also work for other food allergies.

Like 1-5% of the world’s population, I have a serious food allergy (tree nuts, not peanuts).  I’m pretty good at navigating around exposure, and, luckily, eating a nut will ruin my day but not my life.  I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a life-threatening allergy to something as common as peanuts.

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39Comments

  1. 1.

    Samara Morgan

    October 13, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    when we have control of the legacy code, we will be able to fix anything.

  2. 2.

    piratedan

    October 13, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    As we talked about this some last night on the threads about this, I am following this with great anticipation as my youngest son has one of those life threatening responses to peanuts. Ingestion can be lethal and he even breaks out in rashes and hives on contact. Simply smelling peanut butter can make him nauseous. If they can unlock this, who knows what they may be able to piggyback onto it in order to treat allergic reactions to almost everything? Very nifty news indeed.

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    October 13, 2011 at 1:07 pm

    This would be quite a breakthrough.

    I’ve had it (peanut allergy) all my life and it’s uncanny how much stuff has peanuts amongst the ingredients–frequently written in 1-point type, well buried in the middle of the list. I also have enlightening conversations in Thai and Chinese restaurants about the presence or absence of peanuts, peanut sauce, etc. (“Okay, extra peanut.” “No, no peanut.” “Okay, extra…”) I’ve completely given up on mole sauce.

    I’m hugely relieved I “failed” to pass my allergies to my kid. She doesn’t have to worry whether that cookie might send her to the hospital.

  4. 4.

    burnspbesq

    October 13, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    The reappearance of the peanut butter sandwich in school lunches (it’s been banned in our school district for the better part of a decade) may not be seen by all school kids as a good thing. Other than that, this seems like unambiguously good news.

    In other news, Raj Rajaratnam got eleven years in jail and a $10 million fine. The judge declined to impose the 20 year sentence requested by the prosecution because of Rajaratnam’s health issues (he apparently needs a kidney transplant as a complication of failing to adequately control his diabetes).

    To those who will suggest that the fine isn’t big enough, I would simply say “relax, the IRS gets the next swing at the pinata.”

  5. 5.

    Roger Moore

    October 13, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a life-threatening allergy to something as common as peanuts.

    There are other allergies that are probably even worse. Imagine being allergic to wheat or soy, both of which are incredibly common in processed foods. I would have been nice if they provided a link to the JoI article, too.

  6. 6.

    The Other Chuck

    October 13, 2011 at 1:12 pm

    As I understand it, wheat and soy allergies are largely a digestive thing. Still pretty miserable, but peanut allergies fuck people up who literally just _touch_ the stuff.

  7. 7.

    MikeJ

    October 13, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    @burnspbesq: That $10M should be just the fine. Shouldn’t he have to disgorge the profits of the crime?

  8. 8.

    Roger Moore

    October 13, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    he apparently needs a kidney transplant as a complication of failing to adequately control his diabetes

    In an interesting tie-back to the OT, this kind of tolerizing approach was tested in autoimmune diseases (including Type I Diabetes) before it was tried for allergies. Being able to prevent Type I Diabetes, MS, Lupus, etc. would be a huge breakthrough.

  9. 9.

    deep cap

    October 13, 2011 at 1:17 pm

    @The Other Chuck: Yep, that’s true. I’ve even heard stories (no idea of their veracity) that peanut dust in the air can have the same effect, hence the reason airlines stopped offering them.

    Either that or the airlines found that pretzels were just plain cheaper.

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    October 13, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    When I was a wee lad I was allergic to dairy, wheat, nuts, beef, pork, several vegetables and fruits and the aforementioned peanuts, along with certain other legumes, and buckwheat. Add wool, housedust and pollen to the list.

    I “outgrew” most of the food allergies, other than peanuts, and buckwheat. For whatever reason, they’ve become more severe. I’d love to know the medical reason for what sets them apart.

  11. 11.

    Roger Moore

    October 13, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    @The Other Chuck:

    As I understand it, wheat and soy allergies are largely a digestive thing.

    That’s partly because of a confusion between a layman’s understanding of “allergy” and an immunologist’s understanding. People talk about food “allergies” to mean any kind of predictable adverse reaction to food, but it should strictly be restricted to a specific category of adverse immune responses. So celiac disease is an immune response to gluten but is not the same thing as a wheat allergy. People with wheat allergies can have the same kind of anaphalactic reaction to wheat that people with peanut allergies have to peanuts.

  12. 12.

    burnspbesq

    October 13, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    @MikeJ:

    News story I saw didn’t mention it, but the US Attorney’s press release says Rajaratnam is also forfeiting approximately $53.8 million.

    http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/index.html

  13. 13.

    Countme In

    October 13, 2011 at 1:32 pm

    The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health …. read gummint.

    Those with peanut allergies and the these researchers have several choices at the very least on how to regard themselves, given the murderous, anti-American nature of today’s Republican Party:

    Should any of this research result in an effective therapy, the patient beneficiaries are Communist parasites feeding off the precious bodily lucre and stolen tax dollars of the top 1% of the creators populating the mushrooming Galt’s Gulches popping up like al Qaeda cells all over what used to be America.

    The researchers themselves, solely by working as deadbeat, overpaid Federal employees with extravagant benefits and parasite pensions and choosing a life of socialist enslavement rather than the exalted private sector, earn nothing but our rage, class-envy, and ultimately, violence.

    Further, it is obvious, as in the so-called science of global warming, that these “scientists’, like all university-trained elitists, have fabricated the entire phenomenon of allergies, especially peanut allergies, which wouldn’t exist if peanut farming was not subsidized by our Communist government.

    The alarm sounded over allergies is merely a ruse to frighten the cowering, overburdened masses (read: the 1%) into funding these parasites’ cushy, useless employment at taxpayer expense.

    The word “allergy” is neither in the Bible, nor in the Constitution. And you don’t see Dagny Taggert whining about allergies in “Atlas Shrugged”, do you.

    No, she’s got enough to handle avoiding herpes while f*cking long-winded Objectivists.

    Zero-out National Institutes of Health funding and a word to so-called allergy sufferers, you fakers: tune in to the Republican debates to learn God’s and Ayn Rand’s solutions to your pathetic problems.

  14. 14.

    mistermix

    October 13, 2011 at 1:33 pm

    @trollhattan: I’m used to reading all ingredients on almost anything I buy (amazing where they shove the odd walnut or almond), and I have to say that it’s gotten much, much better now that they call out common allergens in bigger type on the ingredient list.

    On the downside, the disclaimers about “processed in a facility where [some allergen] are also handled” is ok for me, since I won’t get deathly ill in case of cross-contamination, but it’s got to be terrible for those with a life-threatening allergy.

  15. 15.

    mistermix

    October 13, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    @Roger Moore: Yeah, if you aren’t wheezing, puking or broken out in hives within a few minutes of ingestion, it’s not an allergy in the sense this article means.

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 13, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    I don’t have a true peanut allergy, but I had a very bad reaction to peanuts when I was a little girl, and to this day I can’t stand to be even in the same room with an open jar of peanut butter or someone eating a PB sandwich. I start gagging at the faintest whiff. But it’s an aversion — I’m not going to die, or swell up, or get covered in hives, or anything like that.

    So while this new approach is terrific news for people who suffer from a true peanut allergy, it won’t do me much good. Unless they start doing research on how to suppress the gag reflex :-)

  17. 17.

    Dave Trowbridge

    October 13, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    I hope this turns out to work for gluten sensitivity.

  18. 18.

    MazeDancer

    October 13, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    The Mayo Clinic estimates that 1% of the population has Celiac disease. And few are diagnosed. (And sometimes mis-diagnosed as having unspecified autoimmune conditions or the kitchen-sink, digestive catch-all: IBD.)

    Add on larger group with wheat allergies, sensitivities or range of intolerances, and you’ll see why “Gluten-free” isn’t just some yuppie, hippie marketing phrase. It’s life changing for millions.

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    October 13, 2011 at 1:45 pm

    @mistermix:
    I’m not an immunologist myself, but I do work in the Department of Immunology in my institution. I get to listen to immunologists talking about deep immunology stuff all the time in department seminars, and have even wound up as a low level author on the odd immunology paper. I guess enough of it has rubbed off that I can’t help but care about this kind of apparently pedantic distinction.

  20. 20.

    Rhoda

    October 13, 2011 at 1:45 pm

    My sister goes into anaphylactic shock in response to any dairy; she has to carry an epi-pen at all times. This so profoundly amazing, thanks for the link. I hope it pans out for other allergies.

  21. 21.

    Lysana

    October 13, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    OK, so I write a friendly note and FYWP treats it as spam. Why, I could not even begin to guess.

    And thank you for sharing some good news here. It’s nice to see amongst everything else.

  22. 22.

    Joe Max

    October 13, 2011 at 1:57 pm

    I’ve been allergic to bananas and melons for years, ever since puberty. Not as bad as some folks, but eating a banana will cover me with hives and putting a slice of melon in my mouth will make my face look like I’ve gone a few rounds with Sugar Ray. I hope this pans out for my allergies!

  23. 23.

    Starfish

    October 13, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    I am somewhat allergic to peanuts and quite allergic to shrimp. I have passed the allergies on to my child.

    I am hoping that he is outgrowing his milk and egg allergies. But we have to continue testing for peanuts and tree nuts to see where that goes.

  24. 24.

    piratedan

    October 13, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    @Starfish: take the time, if your insurance allows, to run the whole gamut of tests. My youngest was tested very young because of our difficulties in feeding him when he was young, he had issues as it turned out; with egg, milk, wheat, soy and peanuts (it’s like the list was shorter as to what we could feed him). It explained why he was always uncomfortable and sick.

    Ended up doing a fair bit of our own food processing and shopping using whole foods and preparation of said items, staying away from just about anything made for kids but as we monitored it with time, the others faded away leaving us with only the peanut allergy. He’s 14 now and very aware of checking his own labels (it’s become a habit) and doesn’t take food from anyone without asking about it and then checking and taste testing (smelling and then nibbling) it first. We’ve been lucky, only two or three incidents with it, and we’ve done our best not to let it be something that singles him out for “special treatment”.

  25. 25.

    El Cid

    October 13, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    tricking the immune system into thinking the nut proteins aren’t a threat to the body

    It’s interesting, though, that it’s really the body tricking itself into thinking these harmless substances are a threat to the body. Hopefully we can have greater success in un-tricking the body.

  26. 26.

    chrome agnomen

    October 13, 2011 at 3:00 pm

    science…pffft! next you’ll try to tell us that fluorine helps prevent cavities and the earth revolves around the sun.

  27. 27.

    JCT

    October 13, 2011 at 3:07 pm

    @El Cid. Lots of interesting research going on to address exactly that question. The concept of manipulating an untoward immune response is a great question in oncology as well.

    And just imagine, this work was likely funded at least in part by the NIH. The very same NIH that would have to disappear to fufill the re-introduced BBA. What a surprise.

  28. 28.

    grape_crush

    October 13, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    This can’t happen soon enough. I have kids who have to be hospitalized if they’re exposed – touch, airborne – to peanuts. You can get around the food issues, but there’s social issues and a general feeling of dread that you have to cope with as well.

  29. 29.

    Starfish

    October 13, 2011 at 3:34 pm

    @piratedan: Mine was given the blood test at six months. It showed that he was very allergic to eggs, highly allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, and mildly allergic to milk, wheat, and soy. The test also said he was allergic to the cat.I had to cut eggs from my diet while breastfeeding. Fortunately, I did not have to cut milk. We kept the cat.

    A month later, the allergist conducted a scratch test that showed that he was very allergic to eggs and milk. She told us to basically ignore the wheat and soy allergies.

    Now he is about a year old, and he needs to do the blood test again to see if things have changed.

    She said that we could try introducing things that contain whey and casein to see how he does.

    He does not appear to like the taste of soy anything which is unfortunate because I would like to stop breastfeeding one day.

  30. 30.

    piratedan

    October 13, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    @Starfish: I can empathize, My wife and I went to the breast pump and milk storage route because all of the formulas contained unacceptable amounts of soy. Our freezer was almost always filled with little bottles of various sizes and labels :-) and it seemed like there was always a pot on the stove that was half filled with water. The likelihood of outgrowing the milk and egg allergies is pretty high in our experience, but peanuts are apparently a lifetime issue.

  31. 31.

    DMcK

    October 13, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    In high school I had a friend who had a pretty broad spectrum of food allergies, one consequence of which was that the only soda he could drink without any ill effects was Mountain Dew. If this can save the next generation from a similar fate I’m all for it!

  32. 32.

    redbeardjim

    October 13, 2011 at 4:01 pm

    Holy crap, I hope this pans out. Kid #2 is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts — no actual incidents so far but we don’t leave the house without an epipen.

  33. 33.

    Arclite

    October 13, 2011 at 5:43 pm

    Apparently much of the peanut allergy problem in the US is (inadvertently) of our own making.

    CONCLUSION:The methods of frying or boiling peanuts, as practiced in China, appear to reduce the allergenicity of peanuts compared with the method of dry roasting practiced widely in the United States. Roasting uses higher temperatures that apparently increase the allergenic property of peanut proteins and may help explain the difference in prevalence of peanut allergy observed in the 2 countries.

  34. 34.

    Wil

    October 13, 2011 at 5:50 pm

    I have a friend who is severely allergic to both peanuts and chocolate.

    Sounds like a life not worth living, honestly.

    More government funding, please.

  35. 35.

    kd

    October 13, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    It’s very important that this is an NIH study. drug companies would be much more interested in seeing a solution that would require medication for the rest of life versus this kind of treatment which would be much more like a vaccine approach I.e. A one-shot deal.

  36. 36.

    Bill Arnold

    October 13, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    The definition of tree nuts (wiki) bothers me a bit. “Tree nuts include almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, filberts/hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts (pignolia nuts), pistachios, and walnuts.”
    Some of these species are as unrelated as they could be, e.g. pines aren’t even angiosperms, and the rest are all Eudicots but some are pretty unrelated.
    Are people really allergic to all of these or is this just a precautionary/simplicity-in-labeling story? (“Produced in a facility that processes nuts”).
    Related plants I can understand. (My sister is allergic to strawberries and kiwi fruits.)

  37. 37.

    Bill Arnold

    October 13, 2011 at 6:49 pm

    @Bill Arnold:
    Strike that. Kiwifruits and strawberries are fairly unrelated as well.

  38. 38.

    KS in MA

    October 13, 2011 at 11:00 pm

    @Bill Arnold: You’re right to wonder at that classification, though all those nuts probably do grow on trees. The study of which proteins cause allergic reactions is still in its infancy. For instance, lots of people are allergic to all of those tree nuts, except hazelnuts, which they can eat by the quart.

  39. 39.

    BruceFromOhio

    October 13, 2011 at 11:49 pm

    It creates a more normal, balanced immune system by increasing the number of regulatory T cells…

    Wasn’t this the basis for “I Am Legend” ?

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