Factors associated with placebo response rate in randomized controlled trials of antiseizure medications for focal epilepsy.

Objective: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are necessary to evaluate the efficacy of novel treatments for epilepsy. However, there have been concerning increases in the placebo responder rate over time. To understand these trends, we evaluated features associated with increased placebo responder rate.

Baseline epitope-specific IgE profiles are predictive of sustained unresponsiveness or high threshold 1-year post oral immunotherapy in the POISED trial.

Background: Results from the POISED trial suggest that discontinuation of peanut oral immunotherapy can increase the risk of regaining clinical reactivity to peanut.

Objective: We sought to determine whether patients who achieved sustained unresponsiveness (SU) or sustained high threshold (SHT) have different baseline sequential epitope-specific IgE profiles than patients who achieved transient desensitization.

Methods: Subjects in the POISED trial (NCT02103270) were randomized to peanut (n = 95) or placebo (n = 25) for 24 months.

Utility of epitope-specific IgE, IgG4, and IgG1 antibodies for the diagnosis of wheat allergy.

Background: The bead-based epitope assay has been used to identify epitope-specific (es) antibodies and successfully used to diagnose clinical allergy to milk, egg, and peanut.

Objective: We sought to identify es-IgE, es-IgG4, and es-IgG1 of wheat proteins and determine the optimal peptides to differentiate wheat-allergic from wheat-tolerant using the bead-based epitope assay.

Methods: Children and adolescents who underwent an oral food challenge to confirm their wheat allergy status were enrolled.

CD23IgG1 memory B cells are poised to switch to pathogenic IgE production in food allergy.

Food allergy is caused by allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies, but little is known about the B cell memory of persistent IgE responses. Here, we describe, in human pediatric peanut allergy, a population of CD23IgG1 memory B cells arising in type 2 immune responses that contain high-affinity peanut-specific clones and generate IgE-producing cells upon activation. The frequency of CD23IgG1 memory B cells correlated with circulating concentrations of IgE in children with peanut allergy.