Future therapies for food allergy.
Abstract
Food allergy affects 3.9% of US children and is increasing in prevalence. The current standard of care involves avoidance of the triggering food and treatment for accidental ingestions. While there is no current curative treatment, there are a number of therapeutic strategies under investigation. Allergen specific therapies include oral and sublingual immunotherapy with native food protein as well as recombinant food proteins. Allergen non-specific therapies include a Chinese herbal formula (FAHF-2) and the use of anti-IgE monoclonal antibody therapy. Although none of these treatments are ready for clinical use, these therapeutic strategies present promising options for the future of food allergy.
KEYWORDS:
anaphylaxis; desensitization; food allergy; oral immunotherapy; subcutaneous immunotherapy; sublingual immunotherapy; tolerance
Link To:
McWilliams LM, Mousallem T, Burks AW.
Future therapies for food allergy, Hum Vaccin Immunother.2012 Oct;8(10):1479-84.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22894951
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/hv.20868