Desensitization and remission after peanut sublingual immunotherapy in 1- to 4-year-old peanut-allergic children: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Prior studies of peanut sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) have suggested a potential advantage with younger age at treatment initiation.

Objective: We studied the safety and efficacy of SLIT for peanut allergy in 1- to 4-year-old children.

Methods: Peanut-allergic 1- to 4-year-old children were randomized to receive 4 mg peanut SLIT versus placebo.

Open-label study of the efficacy, safety, and durability of peanut sublingual immunotherapy in peanut-allergic children.

Background: Studies on the efficacy of peanut sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) are limited. The durability of desensitization after SLIT has not been well described.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 4-mg peanut SLIT and persistence of desensitization after SLIT discontinuation.

Novel peanut-specific human IgE monoclonal antibodies enable screens for inhibitors of the effector phase in food allergy.

Background: 10% of US residents have food allergies, including 2% with peanut allergy. Mast cell mediators released during the allergy effector phase drive allergic reactions. Therefore, targeting sensitized mast cells may prevent food allergy symptoms.

A Novel Allergen-Specific Immune Signature-Directed Approach to Dietary Elimination in Eosinophilic Esophagitis.

Objectives: Dietary elimination for treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is limited by lack of accuracy in current allergy tests. We aimed to develop an immunologic approach to identify dietary triggers and prospectively test allergen-specific immune signature-guided dietary elimination therapy.

Methods: In the first phase, we developed and assessed 2 methods for determining selected food triggers using samples from 24 adults with EoE: a CD4+ T-cell proliferation assay in peripheral blood and food-specific tissue IgG4 levels in esophageal biopsies.

Long-term sublingual immunotherapy for peanut allergy in children: Clinical and immunologic evidence of desensitization.

Background: Peanut sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) for 1 year has been shown to induce modest clinical desensitization in allergic children. Studies of oral immunotherapy, epicutaneous immunotherapy, and SLIT have suggested additional benefit with extended treatment.

Objective: We sought to investigate the safety, clinical effectiveness, and immunologic changes with long-term SLIT in children with peanut allergy.

Blocking antibodies induced by peanut oral and sublingual immunotherapy suppress basophil activation and are associated with sustained unresponsiveness.

Background: Oral and sublingual immunotherapies for peanut allergy have demonstrated efficacy in small clinical trials; however, mechanisms and biomarkers correlating with clinical outcomes remain elusive. Previous studies have demonstrated a role for IgG in post-OIT plasma in the suppression of IgE-mediated mast cell reactions.

Objective: The aim of this study was to characterize the role that peanut oral and sublingual immunotherapy-induced plasma factors play in the inhibition of ex vivo basophil activation and whether inhibitory activity is associated with clinical outcomes.

Early oral immunotherapy in peanut-allergic preschool children is safe and highly effective.

Background: Oral immunotherapy (OIT) is an effective experimental food allergy treatment that is limited by treatment withdrawal and the frequent reversibility of desensitization if interrupted. Newly diagnosed preschool children may have clinical and immunological characteristics more amenable to treatment.

Objective: We sought to test the safety, effectiveness, and feasibility of early OIT (E-OIT) in the treatment of peanut allergy.

Novel strategy to create hypoallergenic peanut protein-polyphenol edible matrices for oral immunotherapy.

Peanut allergy is an IgE-mediated hypersensitivity. Upon peanut consumption by an allergic individual, epitopes on peanut proteins bind and cross-link peanut-specific IgE on mast cell and basophil surfaces triggering the cells to release inflammatory mediators responsible for allergic reactions. Polyphenolic phytochemicals have high affinity to bind proteins and form soluble and insoluble complexes with unique functionality.

Allergenic properties of enzymatically hydrolyzed peanut flour extracts.

Background: Peanut flour is a high-protein, low-oil, powdered material prepared from roasted peanut seed. In addition to being a well-established food ingredient, peanut flour is also the active ingredient in peanut oral immunotherapy trials. Enzymatic hydrolysis was evaluated as a processing strategy to generate hydrolysates from peanut flour with reduced allergenicity.

Pepsinized cashew proteins are hypoallergenic and immunogenic and provide effective immunotherapy in mice with cashew allergy.

Background: IgE-mediated allergic reactions to cashews and other nuts can trigger life-threatening anaphylaxis. Proactive therapies to decrease reaction severity do not exist.

Objectives: We aimed to determine the efficacy of pepsin-digested cashew proteins used as immunotherapy in a murine model of cashew allergy.

Long-term exposure of chemokine CXCL10 causes bronchiolitis-like inflammation.

Chemokines and chemokine receptors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of bronchiolitis. CXCR3 ligands (CXCL10, CXCL9, and CXCL11) were elevated in patients with bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) and chronic allorejection. Studies also suggested that blockage of CXCR3 or its ligands changed the outcome of T-cell recruitment and airway obliteration.

Comprehensive microRNA analysis in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis identifies multiple sites of molecular regulation.

The molecular mechanisms of lung injury and fibrosis are incompletely understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are crucial biological regulators that act by suppressing their target genes and are involved in a variety of pathophysiological processes. To gain insight into miRNAs in the regulation of lung fibrosis, total RNA was isolated from mouse lungs harvested at different days after bleomycin treatment, and miRNA array with 1,810 miRNA probes was performed thereafter.

Inhibition of pulmonary fibrosis in mice by CXCL10 requires glycosaminoglycan binding and syndecan-4.

Pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive, dysregulated response to injury culminating in compromised lung function due to excess extracellular matrix production. The heparan sulfate proteoglycan syndecan-4 is important in mediating fibroblast-matrix interactions, but its role in pulmonary fibrosis has not been explored. To investigate this issue, we used intratracheal instillation of bleomycin as a model of acute lung injury and fibrosis.

Diacylglycerol kinases in immune cell function and self-tolerance.

Both diacylglycerol (DAG) and phosphatidic acid (PA) are important second messengers involved in signal transduction from many immune cell receptors and can be generated and metabolized through multiple mechanisms. Recent studies indicate that diacylglycerol kinases (DGKs), the enzymes that catalyze phosphorylation of DAG to produce PA, play critical roles in regulating the functions of multiple immune cell lineages. In T cells, two DGK isoforms, alpha and zeta, inhibit DAG-mediated signaling following T-cell receptor engagement and prevent T-cell hyperactivation.

Synergistic control of T cell development and tumor suppression by diacylglycerol kinase alpha and zeta.

Diacylglycerol (DAG) kinases (DGKs) are a family of enzymes that convert DAG to phosphatidic acid (PA), the physiologic functions of which have been poorly defined. We report here that DGK alpha and zeta synergistically promote T cell maturation in the thymus. Absence of both DGKalpha and zeta (DGKalpha(-/-)zeta(-/-)) results in a severe decrease in the number of CD4(+)CD8(-) and CD4(-)CD8(+) single-positive thymocytes correlating with increased DAG-mediated signaling.

Diacylglycerol kinase zeta regulates microbial recognition and host resistance to Toxoplasma gondii.

Mammalian Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize microbial pathogen-associated molecular patterns and are critical for innate immunity against microbial infection. Diacylglycerol (DAG) kinases (DGKs) regulate the intracellular levels of two important second messengers involved in signaling from many surface receptors by converting DAG to phosphatidic acid (PA). We demonstrate that the zeta isoform of the DGK family (DGKzeta) is expressed in macrophages (Mphi) and dendritic cells.

Disruption of diacylglycerol metabolism impairs the induction of T cell anergy.

Anergic T cells have altered diacylglycerol metabolism, but whether that altered metabolism has a causative function in the induction of T cell anergy is not apparent. To test the importance of diacylglycerol metabolism in T cell anergy, we manipulated diacylglycerol kinases (DGKs), which are enzymes that terminate diacylglycerol-dependent signaling. Overexpression of DGK-alpha resulted in a defect in T cell receptor signaling that is characteristic of anergy.

Expression and function of lysophosphatidic acid LPA1 receptor in prostate cancer cells.

The bioactive phospholipid lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) promotes cell proliferation, survival, and migration by acting on cognate G protein-coupled receptors named LPA(1), LPA(2), and LPA(3). We profiled gene expression of LPA receptors in androgen-dependent and androgen-insensitive prostate cancer cells and found that LPA(1) gene is differentially expressed in androgen-insensitive and LPA-responsive but not androgen-dependent and LPA-resistant cells. In human prostate specimens, expression of LPA(1) gene was significantly higher in the cancer compared with the benign tissues.

Impaired degranulation but enhanced cytokine production after Fc epsilonRI stimulation of diacylglycerol kinase zeta-deficient mast cells.

Calcium and diacylglycerol are critical second messengers that together effect mast cell degranulation after allergen cross-linking of immunoglobulin (Ig)E-bound FcepsilonRI. Diacylglycerol kinase (DGK)zeta is a negative regulator of diacylglycerol-dependent signaling that acts by converting diacylglycerol to phosphatidic acid. We reported previously that DGKzeta-/- mice have enhanced in vivo T cell function.

Androgen receptor activation by G(s) signaling in prostate cancer cells.

The androgen receptor (AR) is activated in prostate cancer patients undergoing androgen ablative therapy and mediates growth of androgen-insensitive prostate cancer cells, suggesting it is activated by nonandrogenic factors. We demonstrate that activated alpha subunit of heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding G(s) protein activates the AR in prostate cancer cells and also synergizes with low concentration of androgen to more fully activate the AR. The G alpha(s) activates protein kinase A, which is required for the nuclear partition and activation of AR.

Lysophosphatidic acid promotes survival of androgen-insensitive prostate cancer PC3 cells via activation of NF-kappaB.

Background: Dysregulated cell survival contributes to the poor efficacy of many chemotherapeutic regimens for patients with advanced prostate cancer. In this study we examined ability of the lipid growth factor lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) ligand, to promote prostate cell survival.

Methods: PC3 cells were used as a model to study mechanisms involved in survival of androgen-insensitive prostate cancer cells.