A common asthma medication could be the key to preventing life-threatening reactions to food allergies. That's from a multi-year effort by researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois; they identified a previously unknown biological trigger for anaphylaxis, which is most commonly caused by common foods like cow's milk, eggs, peanuts, shellfish, and wheat.
That could be good news the millions of people around the world who suffer from food allergies, and for which there is currently no cure. In the US, nearly 1 in 10 people have a food allergy. The finding has been recorded in mice, and reports from a human trial should become available soon.
So how does this work? It involves Zileuton, an FDA-approved asthma drug that inhibits inflammatory molecules in the body known as leukotrienes. Limiting their formation helps reduce asthma symptoms, including inflammation and the constriction of airways in your lungs, which can make it hard to breathe and lead to coughing.
But let's go back in time a bit. A few years ago, researchers at Northwestern began a genetic screen, in which they bred several generations of mice to narrow down the specific genes responsible for various biological differences, like being susceptible to food allergies.
Through this process, they found that a gene called DPEP1 was responsible for regulating anaphylaxis, a common allergic reaction that results in a variety of mild to severe symptoms – including a drop in blood pressure that can be fatal. Here's a three-minute refresher on anaphylaxis from 2008:
Armed with this insight, the scientists used Zileuton to block the pathway involving the DPEP1 gene. This practically eliminated allergic responses in mice that were previously highly susceptible to food-induced anaphylaxis.
The mice were fed peanut extract shortly after receiving a dose of Zileuton, and then monitored for symptoms. "After treatment with Zileuton, 95% of the mice showed almost no symptoms of anaphylaxis,” said Dr. Adam Williams, who co-authored the paper with these findings that appeared in the journal Science. "The treatment reversed their risk from 95% susceptible to 95% protected."
This study also helps explain why some people are said to be allergic to certain foods as per their blood tests (which measure the amount of allergy-causing antibodies in your blood), but don't have a reaction to those same foods when they eat them.
The research team launched a small early-stage clinical trial with humans last month to see if blocking this pathway with Zileuton works the same way as it did with mice. The results will certainly be interesting, and could point to a new way to keep people safe from anaphylaxis.
Laura Hoyt, another author of the paper, concluded that this could be prove to be an effective approach to a potentially deadly health condition people can encounter anywhere. "We’ve seen tragic, even fatal reactions from hidden ingredients like ground peanuts in a sauce," she said. "For parents sending their child to a birthday party, or for anyone flying where they can’t control what’s being served, this could be a powerful protective drug."
Source: Northwestern University
