Skin patch may help with peanut allergy
A skin patch that delivers small amounts of peanut protein may help treat children and young adults with peanut allergy, researchers report. The new approach looks promising and has potential, said study author Dr. Marshall Plaut. He is chief of the food allergy, atopic dermatitis and allergic mechanisms section at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Plauts research team worked with 74 children and young adults, aged 4 to 25, who are allergic to peanuts. The volunteers were randomly assigned to wear either a high-dose patch (250 micrograms), a low-dose patch (100 micrograms) or a placebo patch.
Participants put a new patch on daily, sticking it to their arm or between their shoulder blades.
At the one-year mark, the researchers evaluated whether the participants were able to consume at least 10 times more peanut protein than they could at the study start, under supervision during the allergy challenge.
After a year, 46 percent of the low-dose group and 48 percent of the high-dose group could do that, but only 12 percent of those on the placebo patch could.
Children aged 4 to 11 had the best response. The patch had less effect on those aged 12 and older, the study authors said.
The results were published online Oct. 26 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
The patch is based on the same concept as other anti-allergy treatments, aiming to engage the immune system to train the body to tolerate small amounts of the protein.
Other researchers have tested giving small oral doses of the peanut protein, but the NIH team of researchers noted that that regimen is difficult for about 10 percent to 15 percent of people to tolerate.
HealthDay
