Researchers from the Indiana University College of Medicine in the United States have found a way to prevent dangerous allergic reactions that can affect patients with a peanut allergy. The results of the groundbreaking discovery, which gives hope for the development of treatments that prevent dangerous peanut allergies, were published in the journal “Science Translational Medicine” in early February, and reported on the “EurekAlert” website. Dr. Mark Kaplan, head of the department of microbiology and immunology, and the lead researcher in this study, said that there are treatments for symptoms that may appear in patients with food allergies, but several drugs prevent these reactions from occurring.
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food allergies
According to the MSD Manuals website, a food allergy is a reaction that occurs as a result of eating certain foods such as tree nuts, peanuts, milk or eggs. Food allergies may begin during childhood. A child may get rid of food allergies with age, making food allergy less common in adults, but if an adult has a food allergy, that allergy often lasts a lifetime. Food allergy symptoms range from the appearance of a skin rash that may be associated with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea in young children, to more severe reactions in older children and adults that may include itching, swelling, runny nose, and may also lead to dizziness and fainting.
Allergy to peanuts
Peanut allergy is one of the most common causes of severe allergic reactions, according to the Mayo Clinic website. Eating a small amount of peanuts can lead to severe allergic reactions in infected people, and the allergy can occur as a result of eating peanuts directly, inhaling them, or eating products containing peanuts.
What happens when a person is allergic to food?
When a person is allergic to food, it is due to the allergic connection to the “immunoglobulin protein” E (IgE), which is associated with types of white blood cells called “basophils” found in the bloodstream, and a similar type found in tissues called “mast cells”. The stimulation of these cells may cause a severe allergic shock that occurs shortly after ingestion of the allergen, and this shock may kill the patient.
A heterocyclic covalent desensitization inhibitor
The researchers developed the peanut-specific inhibitor called “heterocyclic covalent inhibitor” (cHBI). This compound prevented basophils and mast cells from degrading and causing anaphylactic shock in laboratory animals. Nada Al-Ahras, co-researcher and graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, explained that the compound prevented allergic reactions for more than two weeks when given before exposure to the allergen. The compound also prevented severe allergic reactions and reduced allergic reaction when given shortly after the onset of allergic symptoms. The results of the study show that the heterocyclic covalent inhibitor has the ability to prevent the occurrence of peanut allergy in particular, according to Professor Becher Filgeser, a co-investigator in this study, and a professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering at the University of Notre-Dame in the United States.
The inhibitory compound has not yet been tested in humans, and is subject to further evaluation in animals in order to confirm its safety and effectiveness before moving to clinical studies.