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Grant Program News
Food allergy research continues to thrive. FAAN has committed to funding six new research projects totaling $1.12 million for our grant program. Since 2005, FAAN’s research program has funded 23 projects totaling nearly $4.2 million.
Our Research Grant Program has led to more than 62 publications, abstracts, and presentations, nearly doubling last year’s number.
Additionally, we continue to work with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand the NIH’s commitment to food allergy research.
These efforts could not have been possible without your continued commitment to finding a cure.
Highlights of FAAN-Funded Research in 2008
Oral Immunotherapy
Oral immunotherapy studies with peanut, milk, and egg continue to offer encouraging results. This research is in the very early stages. At Duke University in North Carolina, Dr. Wesley Burks has been leading a groundbreaking study, the goal of which is to help develop a treatment for food allergy. The pilot study of peanut oral immunotherapy was supported by FAAN in 2005 to determine the safety and efficacy of the treatment and is now continuing with follow-up at Duke University Medical Center and Arkansas Children’s Hospital. This research is designed to increase tolerance to peanut over time and to reduce the risk of anaphylaxis due to the accidental ingestion of peanuts. The latest research findings can be found in a supplement to the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
CoFAR, Consortium of Food Allergy Research, supported by NIAID is supporting research in egg oral immunotherapy and peanut sublingual immunotherapy. Find more information through the CoFAR website.
At the University of Berlin, Dr. Kirsten Beyer also is studying oral immunotherapy, focusing on peanut and milk. Dr. Beyer’s team also published her findings on oral immunotherapy.
“Vaccine" Update
There are several ongoing studies looking at developing vaccines for food allergies. “Vaccines” in this instance is referring to something similar to “allergy shots”. At the University of California-Los Angeles, Dr. Ke Zhang and his team are developing a type of vaccine that, if successful, could treat patients who have peanut allergy.
Zhang’s team have genetically engineered two versions of a protein that targets and binds to cells involved in allergic reactions. This vaccine, which would be intended for individuals with a peanut allergy, would build tolerance to the allergen without the individual experiencing a reaction to the vaccine itself. [Note: They are nowhere near a clinical trial; they are still working to see if it works in cells and animals].
Genetic Factors and Food Sensitization
At the University of Arizona, Dr. Donata Vercelli is studying how genetics relate to food allergy. Vercelli hopes to be able to gather enough evidence to determine the factors that we’re born with that influence how we may become at risk for developing food allergy.
Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE)
For the past four years, FAAN has funded Dr. Marc Rothenberg’s research on EE at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He has been working on measuring characteristics of this disease, such as genetics and the response to treatment, in order to determine how they relate to food allergy. This will lead to better diagnostic tests and therapeutic targets.
Prevalence and Cause of Anaphylaxis
A population-based study led by Dr. Wyatt Decker at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. linked and indexed records of virtually all providers of medical care in Olmsted County, Minn., from 1990 to 2000 to help researchers learn more about the prevalence and causes of anaphylaxis. Dr. Decker’s team concluded that the overall incidence rate of anaphylaxis was about 50 per 100,000 persons, suggesting that the incidence of anaphylaxis is substantially higher than has been previously reported. Age-specific rates were highest for ages 0-19 years (70 per 100,000). Dr. Decker said future investigations, including a longer-term population-based study, the establishment of prospective registries, and investigational trials to evaluate best treatments, will help researchers better understand anaphylaxis. See our press release for more information about this study.
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