The utility of peanut components in the diagnosis of IgE-mediated peanut allergy among distinct populations.

Background: Increasing data suggest that analysis of IgE to peanut components can be clinically helpful and possibly more accurate than IgE to whole peanut. Not all studies examining this topic, however, have used prospective samples, multiple components, and peanut challenges.

Objective: We sought to determine the utility of peanut component testing, using a standardized, commercially available test done before oral peanut challenge in various populations of patients with suspected peanut allergy from 2 different countries.

Peanut oral immunotherapy: is it ready for clinical practice?

The prevalence of peanut allergy in the United States and other Westernized countries has tripled in the past 15 years, now affecting more than 1% of the population. Strict peanut avoidance is the current standard of care. In the past decade, a number of small, largely uncontrolled clinical trials have suggested that oral immunotherapy (OIT) can effectively desensitize most children with peanut allergy.

Role of maternal elimination diets and human milk IgA in the development of cow's milk allergy in the infants.

Background: The role of maternal avoidance diets in the prevention of food allergies is currently under debate. Little is known regarding the effects of such diets on human milk (HM) composition or induction of infant humoral responses.

Objective: To assess the association of maternal cow's milk (CM) avoidance during breastfeeding with specific IgA levels in HM and development of cow's milk allergy (CMA) in infants.

The anti-asthma herbal medicine ASHMI acutely inhibits airway smooth muscle contraction via prostaglandin E2 activation of EP2/EP4 receptors.

Our previous studies have shown that the anti-asthma traditional Chinese medicine herbal formula ASHMI (anti-asthma simplified herbal medicine intervention) inhibits acetylcholine-induced contractions of tracheal rings from ovalbumin-sensitized and naive mice in a β-adrenoceptor-independent manner. We sought to determine whether acute in vivo ASHMI administration inhibits airway hyperreactivity (AHR) in a murine model of allergic asthma and acetylcholine-induced tracheal ring constriction ex vivo and to elucidate the cellular mechanisms underlying these effects. Ovalbumin-sensitized mice received a single oral ASHMI dose 2 h before intravenous acetylcholine challenge.

Anaphylaxis in America: the prevalence and characteristics of anaphylaxis in the United States.

Background: Although anaphylaxis is recognized as an important life-threatening condition, data are limited regarding its prevalence and characteristics in the general population.

Objective: We sought to estimate the lifetime prevalence and overall characteristics of anaphylaxis.

Methods: Two nationwide, cross-sectional random-digit-dial surveys were conducted.

Egg-white-specific IgA and IgA2 antibodies in egg-allergic children: is there a role in tolerance induction?

Background: Decreased serum food-specific IgA antibodies have been associated with allergic disease in cross-sectional, case-control studies. The purpose of this study was to prospectively compare egg-white-(EW)-specific IgA and IgA2 levels between egg-allergic children and children tolerating egg.

Methods: Seventeen egg-allergic children were followed prospectively.

A WAO - ARIA - GA²LEN consensus document on molecular-based allergy diagnostics.

Molecular-based allergy (MA) diagnostics is an approach used to map the allergen sensitization of a patient at a molecular level, using purified natural or recombinant allergenic molecules (allergen components) instead of allergen extracts. Since its introduction, MA diagnostics has increasingly entered routine care, with currently more than 130 allergenic molecules commercially available for in vitro specific IgE (sIgE) testing.MA diagnostics allows for an increased accuracy in allergy diagnosis and prognosis and plays an important role in three key aspects of allergy diagnosis: (1) resolving genuine versus cross-reactive sensitization in poly-sensitized patients, thereby improving the understanding of triggering allergens; (2) assessing, in selected cases, the risk of severe, systemic versus mild, local reactions in food allergy, thereby reducing unnecessary anxiety for the patient and the need for food challenge testing; and (3) identifying patients and triggering allergens for specific immunotherapy (SIT).

In vitro digestibility of bovine β-casein with simulated and human oral and gastrointestinal fluids. Identification and IgE-reactivity of the resultant peptides.

Stability during digestion is considered an important feature in determining the allergenicity of food proteins. This study aimed to provide an immunological characterisation of the digestion products of the major cow's milk allergen β-casein (β-CN) produced by in vitro orogastrointestinal hydrolysis with simulated and human digestive fluids. β-CN was unaffected by oral digestion, but quickly broke down during the early stages of gastric digestion.

Oral and sublingual immunotherapy for food allergy.

Objective: Food allergies continue to be an increasingly common disorder, however, no treatment strategies are currently approved for the routine management of individuals with food allergies. Encouraging results from early open-label studies have sparked great interest in oral and sublingual immunotherapy, and thus several randomized controlled trials have recently been conducted to establish the safety and efficacy of these treatment strategies. The aim of this review is to examine the recent studies for peanut, milk and egg allergies.

The Sophora flavescens flavonoid compound trifolirhizin inhibits acetylcholine induced airway smooth muscle contraction.

Asthma is a serious health problem worldwide, particularly in industrialized countries. Despite a better understanding of the pathophysiology of asthma, there are still considerable gaps in knowledge as well as a need for classes of drugs. ASHMI™ (Anti-asthma Herbal Medicine Intervention) is an aqueous extract of Ganoderma lucidum (Fr.

Intestinal permeability in children with food allergy on specific elimination diets.

Background: Children with food allergy have been shown to have increased small intestinal permeability (IP) following ingestion of the offending food as well as during elimination diets. We investigated IP in asymptomatic food allergic children during an elimination diet to identify clinical characteristics associated with altered IP.

Methods: Urinary recovery ratios of lactulose and mannitol (L/M) were determined 5 h following ingestion of 7.

The use of routine thoracoabdominal CT scans in the polytrauma patient to estimate obesity.

Objective: To utilize data from routine CT scans to quantify obesity in polytrauma patients without the need to obtain a height and weight.

Design And Methods: We utilized a comprehensive database including multidetector CT thoracoabdominal images of all polytrauma patients admitted to a Level 1 trauma center. One thousand one hundred seventy-four patients were reviewed from 2006 to 2008 and of these, 162 had previous documentation of Body Mass Index (BMI) or height and weight measurements as an outpatient within 6 months of trauma activation and with a truncal girth smaller than the scanning area of the CT machine.

Carbamazepine as a novel small molecule corrector of trafficking-impaired ATP-sensitive potassium channels identified in congenital hyperinsulinism.

ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels consisting of sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1) and the potassium channel Kir6.2 play a key role in insulin secretion by coupling metabolic signals to β-cell membrane potential. Mutations in SUR1 and Kir6.

Constituents of the anti-asthma herbal formula ASHMI(TM) synergistically inhibit IL-4 and IL-5 secretion by murine Th2 memory cells, and eotaxin by human lung fibroblasts in vitro.

Objective: Anti-asthma herbal medicine intervention (ASHMI(TM)), a combination of three traditional Chinese medicinal herbs developed in our laboratory, has demonstrated efficacy in both mouse models of allergic asthma, and a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial in patients with asthma. This study was designed to determine if the anti-inflammatory effects of individual herbal constituents of ASHMI(TM) exhibited synergy.

Methods: Effects of ASHMI and its components aqueous extracts of Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum), Kushen (Sophora flavescens) and Gancao (Glycyrrhiza uralensis), on Th2 cytokine secretion by murine memory Th2 cells (D10.

Mucosal immunology of food allergy.

Food allergies are increasing in prevalence at a higher rate than can be explained by genetic factors, suggesting a role for as yet unidentified environmental factors. In this review, we summarize the state of knowledge about the healthy immune response to antigens in the diet and the basis of immune deviation that results in immunoglobulin E (IgE) sensitization and allergic reactivity to foods. The intestinal epithelium forms the interface between the external environment and the mucosal immune system, and emerging data suggest that the interaction between intestinal epithelial cells and mucosal dendritic cells is of particular importance in determining the outcome of immune responses to dietary antigens.

Food allergy: an enigmatic epidemic.

Food allergy is a common disease that is rapidly increasing in prevalence for reasons that remain unknown. Current research efforts are focused on understanding the immune basis of food allergy, identifying environmental factors that may contribute to its rising prevalence, and developing immunotherapeutic approaches to establish immune tolerance to foods. Technological advances such as peptide microarray and MHC class II tetramers have begun to provide a comprehensive profile of the immune response to foods.

A phase 1 study of heat/phenol-killed, E. coli-encapsulated, recombinant modified peanut proteins Ara h 1, Ara h 2, and Ara h 3 (EMP-123) for the treatment of peanut allergy.

Background: Immunotherapy for peanut allergy may be limited by the risk of adverse reactions.

Objective: To investigate the safety and immunologic effects of a vaccine containing modified peanut proteins.

Methods: This was a phase 1 trial of EMP-123, a rectally administered suspension of recombinant Ara h 1, Ara h 2, and Ara h 3, modified by amino acid substitutions at major IgE-binding epitopes, encapsulated in heat/phenol-killed E.

Epitope mapping of the major allergen from Atlantic cod in Spanish population reveals different IgE-binding patterns.

Scope: IgE-epitope mapping of allergens reveal important information about antigen components involved in allergic reactions. The peptide-based microarray immunoassay has been used to map epitopes of some food allergens. We developed a peptide microarray immunoassay to map allergenic epitopes in parvalbumin from Atlantic cod (Gad m 1), the most consumed cod species in Spain.

Novel pharmacological strategies to treat cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a lethal disease caused by mutations in the CFTR gene. The most frequent mutation is deletion of a phenylalanine residue (ΔF508) that results in retention of the mutant, but otherwise functional, protein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). There have been recent advances in the identification of chemically diverse corrector compounds that allow ΔF508-CFTR protein to traffic from the ER to the plasma membrane.

Compounds that correct F508del-CFTR trafficking can also correct other protein trafficking diseases: an in vitro study using cell lines.

Background: Many genetic diseases are due to defects in protein trafficking where the mutant protein is recognized by the quality control systems, retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and degraded by the proteasome. In many cases, the mutant protein retains function if it can be trafficked to its proper cellular location. We have identified structurally diverse correctors that restore the trafficking and function of the most common mutation causing cystic fibrosis, F508del-CFTR.

Clinical Use of Probiotics in Pediatric Allergy (CUPPA): A World Allergy Organization Position Paper.

Background: : Probiotic administration has been proposed for the prevention and treatment of specific allergic manifestations such as eczema, rhinitis, gastrointestinal allergy, food allergy, and asthma. However, published statements and scientific opinions disagree about the clinical usefulness.

Objective: : A World Allergy Organization Special Committee on Food Allergy and Nutrition review of the evidence regarding the use of probiotics for the prevention and treatment of allergy.

In silico prediction of Ara h 2 T cell epitopes in peanut-allergic children.

Background: Despite the frequency and severity of peanut allergy, the only approved treatment is strict avoidance. Different types of immunotherapy with crude peanut extract are not universally effective and have been associated with relatively high adverse reaction rates.

Objective: We sought to determine whether in silico predictive algorithms were useful in identifying candidate peptides for an Ara h 2 peptide-based vaccine using peanut-allergic patients' peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in vitro.

The natural history of milk allergy in an observational cohort.

Objective: There are few studies on the natural history of milk allergy. Most are single-site and not longitudinal, and these have not identified a means for early prediction of outcomes.

Methods: Children aged 3 to 15 months were enrolled in an observational study with either (1) a convincing history of egg allergy, milk allergy, or both with a positive skin prick test (SPT) response to the trigger food and/or (2) moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD) and a positive SPT response to milk or egg.