New drug promises to help peanut allergies

[Tellenbach]

New drug promises to help peanut allergies

The drug -- called Viaskin Peanut -- recently received special fast-track testing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The latest round of Viaskin Peanut testing found that some patients who used the patch were able to eat the equivalent of four peanuts without a problem. Other test patients didn't experience such dramatic results, but researchers noted positive immune system changes that pointed to possible peanut desentization in the future.

Food allergies could soon be treated with nanoparticles

In a new study, researchers at Northwestern University may have found a way to use these nanoparticles to cure any allergy you can think of.

Forget food allergies, what about cat allergies or transplant rejections or autoimmune diseases. This is exciting stuff.

The scientists were able to take mice that were allergic to eggs -- so much so they would have an asthma attack when exposed to egg protein -- and stop the harmful reaction after one treatment.

There are two reasons it worked: The first is that the nanoparticles were specially made to fly under the radar of the immune system. The second is that they actually had the egg proteins hidden inside.

By smuggling the allergen into the body without setting off the alarm, the mice's immune systems learned that egg protein isn't so bad after all. The same trick could potentially end any allergy.

 

[Yama]

i dont think i'll use it, cuz i don't see the point of being able to eat 4 peanuts a day, plus i think they smell bad because it's my body's natural defense mechanism. it's cool but unless it can make the allergy completely go away i don't much see the point

 

[Tellenbach]

[MENTION=23583]21lux[/MENTION] Hey lux, may I ask how long you've had this allergy? Is it something that you develop or something you get at birth?

 

[Luke O]

Anybody want a peanut?

 

[Tellenbach]

Back in the 5th grade, our teacher would reward students with roasted peanuts. If we answered a question correctly or helped out (passing out papers) in class, we got peanuts.

 

[Yama]

[MENTION=23583]21lux[/MENTION] Hey lux, may I ask how long you've had this allergy? Is it something that you develop or something you get at birth?

I've been allergic since birth, and my allergy is very extreme; one time I ate a peanut butter cookie and I broke out in hives all over and couldn't breathe, it was very scary. I can even smell peanut butter much more intensely than most people do, as my body's natural defense mechanism. It also smells repulsive to me, probably for the same reason. I can smell it from longer distances and for much longer than non-allergic people can. I can smell it in a room hours after someone's eaten something with it.

 

[prplchknz]

i dont think i'll use it, cuz i don't see the point of being able to eat 4 peanuts a day, plus i think they smell bad because it's my body's natural defense mechanism. it's cool but unless it can make the allergy completely go away i don't much see the point

I see your point, but i could see for the people who have reactions by breathing the dust as a precaution i mean probably should still avoid peanuts but if they accidently ate something with peanuts in it might be better but yeah I dunno i'm not allergic to anything so i can't relate i'm just thinking that it could be used as a line of defense against accidental ingestion especially really little kids who don't know better (the ones at the age that put everything in their mouths) I'm pretty sure you're past that age. But I could see it be useful for really tiny kids. But I guess if you're older and spent your whole life avoiding them there's really no point.

 

[chubber]

transplant rejections , [MENTION=20829]Hard[/MENTION] what do you think?

 

[Cloudpatrol]

Anybody want a peanut?

"No more rhyming, and I mean it"

 

[á´…eparted]

transplant rejections , [MENTION=20829]Hard[/MENTION] what do you think?

I don't have time to look into it at the moment, but I don't think it will easily translate.

Most food allergies are caused by a single protein (sometimes more). That protein present in the food is recognized wrongly as a pathogen and hence the allergic response. The way in which organs are rejected is a different biochemical process, and one that is significantly more complicated. Not only would you have to account for protein differences, but sugar motif's on the surface of the cell (which is the front line for cell recognition), and that science is still well in it's infancy. This is why people who receive organ transplants receive immunosuppressant drugs; they have to broad spectrum squelsh cell recognition and immunse responses.

A few years ago I saw a talk given by Carolyn Bertozzi, whom is arguably the biggest researcher in the world on cell surface sugars (which she calls as the way cells "talk" to one another). Her work is AMAZING, and is one of the most talented speakers I've ever seen. I have fairly high confidance she'll be a nobel prize winner in a few decades. Based on the work she is doing now, we have a long way to go before we could get a parallel drug to what we see here with peanut allergies.

In short, the leap from food allergy to organ rejection is huge.

 

[Tellenbach]

Another approach might be to replace the offending antigens in the transplant organ via a CRISPR type method. Instead of transplanting into a human, you transplant it first into a pig and replace the genes for the donor antigens with receiver antigens and wait a month or two for the antigens to change.

 

[five sounds]

Back in the 5th grade, our teacher would reward students with roasted peanuts. If we answered a question correctly or helped out (passing out papers) in class, we got peanuts.

lol that's so crazy! as a person working in schools this sounds almost as ancient as teachers hitting kids.

 

[Tellenbach]

lol that's so crazy! as a person working in schools this sounds almost as ancient as teachers hitting kids.

I believe corporal punishment still exists in some schools today.

This was back in the early 80s. No one had heard of peanut allergies and no one died from eating peanuts.

 

[Yama]

This was back in the early 80s. No one had heard of peanut allergies and no one died from eating peanuts.

huh??? you mean peanut allergies didn't exist 30 years ago? i mean i would believe that they're much more common now than they used to be, but i'd think there would be a rare few who were allergic somewhere out there

 

[Tellenbach]

huh??? you mean peanut allergies didn't exist 30 years ago?

I'm sure they existed but it wasn't in the public consciousness; you never heard of it on TV or on the news and most people didn't know anyone who had it.

 

[Redbone]

I'm sure they existed but it wasn't in the public consciousness; you never heard of it on TV or on the news and most people didn't know anyone who had it.

I think this was maybe because people were more private about such matters. I had and still do have allergies pretty bad but it's true that it was rare for me to hear of others having allergies--food or otherwise.

Now the peanut stuff, this is very interesting. I looked at some info earlier on stem therapy on this because peanut allergy is linked to filaggrin gene mutation (as well as atopic disease, asthma, eczema). So it would be even better if they could treat this mutation.

 

[Cellmold]

lol that's so crazy! as a person working in schools this sounds almost as ancient as teachers hitting kids.

Get monkeys, give peanuts.