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Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

theguardian.com

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Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#81

Post by dperfect »

nibstwo wrote: post #69
S_A_P wrote: post #39

My daughter has Celiac disease. It was diagnosed at age 4 when her growth chart showed she did not gain a single pound and grew ¼" from age 3-4. We did a biopsy of her small intestine and it was completely smooth. (Should be almost like velvet) Herblood levels also showed high sensitivity to gluten. We have her on a strict gluten free diet and she has since followed the growth chart perfectly. However she is sensitiv…

I have Celiac. Unfortunately immunotherapy is not currently done in a way that would make much of a difference for us. Celiac is typically an autoimmune response to Gliadin protein as a result of human leukocyte activation genes HLA-DQ2.2/2.5 or HLA-DQ8. In either case, it is happening at the cellular level for every cell that comes into contact with the protein. The intestines are hard hit mostly because they spend…

> The immune response is therefore not entirely autoimmune in nature but necessary to protect the cells. The vili are being destroyed directly, essentially.

Isn't the damage to villi a byproduct of the (auto)immune reaction? I haven't studied it in depth, but what I've read seems to indicate that the damage is caused by inflammatory reactions (as part of the immune response) rather than directly from the prolamins.

> The antigen will always destroy your cells, autoimmune response or not. Sensitivity depends on how many (one or two) of the HLA genes you have that react with gluten.

The gluten is not reacting with genes, but the genes help determine how your immune system responds to the antigen, so it's still entirely an immune response, at least as I understand it.

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#82

Post by S_A_P »

ljf wrote: post #62
S_A_P wrote: post #39

My daughter has Celiac disease. It was diagnosed at age 4 when her growth chart showed she did not gain a single pound and grew ¼" from age 3-4. We did a biopsy of her small intestine and it was completely smooth. (Should be almost like velvet) Herblood levels also showed high sensitivity to gluten. We have her on a strict gluten free diet and she has since followed the growth chart perfectly. However she is sensitiv…

Sorry to hear that - but I understand that Celiac disease it not an immune response in the same manner - so likely any treatment will be different to this - though as ever - probiotics and gut bacteria are worth a try. My wife has celiac disease too, and I really wouldn't worry too much - it is pretty damn easy to eat out now (in the UK, Europe and America at least) - and compared to 10 years ago, she can shop really…

You are right, this really is a great time(even though that sounds weird to put it that way) to have a food allergy. I think about even 10-20 years ago how hard it would be to eat gluten free at most places. Thank you for the link- travel is always something we "worry" about. Most of the time we bring an extra suitcase of non perishables that my daughter can eat in case we cant accommodate her diet. Another reason why I love this site, in the 6 or so responses from my post, Ive gotten lots of helpful info. Thanks to all of you!

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#83

Post by wyldfire »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #64
jwineinger wrote: post #28

I'm a parent of a 4-year old with a peanut allergy. We've been told that anywhere from 18-25% of kids with it "outgrow" the allergy by age 5. I've been looking into private practice oral immunotherapy (OIT) recently, which this protocol seems to be a variant of (adding the bacteria). My understanding is that you start with a low dose and then gradually increase over months until you're eating whole peanuts (4-12 of t…

This is basically what most allergy treatments are. Start with 1/1000th of a peanut and gradually increase. It's a simple concept that's been used for nearly a century for other allergens. I did it for cat allergies over a decade ago. Developed them in college after growing up with cats. I have cats now.

I don't want to own cats but I would like to cope better with visiting cat-owners' homes. You seem to describe some sort of DIY immunotherapy for cat dander? Can you go into details?

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#84

Post by giarc »

gehwartzen wrote: post #78

The AAP also recently changed its guidelines for introducing peanuts to babies based on a study [1] showing a pretty dramatic decline in the development of the allergy with early exposure vs total avoidance. [1] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1414850#abstract

We've created this fear in parents that they must keep peanuts away from their child. My colleague wouldn't bring peanuts into the house with her first child and by age 3 her son still hadn't eaten peanut butter or any other peanut products. She wanted to introduce peanut butter to him and went as far as bringing him to the Children's Hospital emergency department and gave him a tiny amount of peanut butter while sitting in emergency waiting room. The idea being that she'd be able to get help quick if he went into anaphylactic shock. I thought, and tried to explain to her, that a 3 year old in daycare probably has been exposed to peanuts already, and therefore was very unlikely to have a severe reaction. But you can't always use that logic on worried parents.

This idea of introducing the food in an ED waiting room is probably something spread on mommy forums such as BabyCenter. One mom shares it, then there is social pressure to do the same thing. A parent probably thinks "Does it make me a bad mom if I don't do it." Very unfortunate.

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#85

Post by giarc »

wyldfire wrote: post #83
JohnTHaller wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is basically what most allergy treatments are. Start with 1/1000th of a peanut and gradually increase. It's a simple concept that's been used for nearly a century for other allergens. I did it for cat allergies over a decade ago. Developed them in college after growing up with cats. I have cats now.

I don't want to own cats but I would like to cope better with visiting cat-owners' homes. You seem to describe some sort of DIY immunotherapy for cat dander? Can you go into details?

Here is what my wife did (not the commentor though). She had dogs growing up, went away to school and developed an allergy. We bought a dog and she would take allergy pills each day but eventually starting cutting the dose as time went on. Now the allergy is gone.

For you, I would say visit your friends with cats often, at first taking an allergy pill before hand. Continue with frequent visits and cutting the dosage down. After you cut out the pill completely, make sure to continue to visit.

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#86

Post by nsxwolf »

This seems so obvious, and I've been hearing about this approach for years and years. Yet it still feels like 20 years from now, this will still not be a treatment, and kids classrooms will still be "nut free", and more and more kids will be carrying around epi-pens which will still cost a fortune.

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#87

Post by nsxwolf »

giarc wrote: post #84
gehwartzen wrote: post #78

The AAP also recently changed its guidelines for introducing peanuts to babies based on a study [1] showing a pretty dramatic decline in the development of the allergy with early exposure vs total avoidance. [1] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1414850#abstract

We've created this fear in parents that they must keep peanuts away from their child. My colleague wouldn't bring peanuts into the house with her first child and by age 3 her son still hadn't eaten peanut butter or any other peanut products. She wanted to introduce peanut butter to him and went as far as bringing him to the Children's Hospital emergency department and gave him a tiny amount of peanut butter while sit…

We gave our kids peanut butter as soon as they were eating solid food. We live right next to the emergency room so we figured, let's just get it over with. Sounds like it's the right approach to introduce it as early as possible, anyway.

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#88

Post by jaclaz »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #64
jwineinger wrote: post #28

I'm a parent of a 4-year old with a peanut allergy. We've been told that anywhere from 18-25% of kids with it "outgrow" the allergy by age 5. I've been looking into private practice oral immunotherapy (OIT) recently, which this protocol seems to be a variant of (adding the bacteria). My understanding is that you start with a low dose and then gradually increase over months until you're eating whole peanuts (4-12 of t…

This is basically what most allergy treatments are. Start with 1/1000th of a peanut and gradually increase. It's a simple concept that's been used for nearly a century for other allergens. I did it for cat allergies over a decade ago. Developed them in college after growing up with cats. I have cats now.

Historically the idea is much earlier, it comes from the legends around Mithridates, King of Pontus, circa 100 BC:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithridates_VI_of_Pontus#Mithr...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithridate

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mithridatism

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#89

Post by nibstwo »

S_A_P wrote: post #79
nibstwo wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have Celiac. Unfortunately immunotherapy is not currently done in a way that would make much of a difference for us. Celiac is typically an autoimmune response to Gliadin protein as a result of human leukocyte activation genes HLA-DQ2.2/2.5 or HLA-DQ8. In either case, it is happening at the cellular level for every cell that comes into contact with the protein. The intestines are hard hit mostly because they spend…

Thanks for this- it sounds like I need to do some more research to completely understand whats going on, but this is very helpful. If you dont mind my asking, are your symptoms mostly GI related? Ive heard others can have symptoms that manifest in things like sinuses getting plugged up or skin rashes. Also sounds like a drug similar to Humara may be something that could provide at least some relief to the immune resp…

No. Mine were mostly cognitive. I mean, when I was a kid I had no tooth enamel (had to have surgery to install fake teeth) and puked up everything I ate that had wheat in it, but somehow no one diagnosed it until later. I just assumed it was normal but my symptoms were migraines, anxiety, stomach bloating, joint pain, hair loss, stunted growth, constant fatigue, sleep apnea, nutrient deficiencies, malabsorption. It took about a year to feel better. It used to be cross contamination would mean 3 days of pain, gluten 7 days. Now cross contamination is a worthy trade off for occasional meal out, and gluten is 2-3 days in small amounts. I shudder to consider eating a full bun or something but I haven't tried in years. I know within 10 minutes because the skin inside my mouth peels off. So I kind of have systems for managing it. I have a normal job and would say it has not really hindered me outside of eating a very strict diet. Having support from my partner also helps a great deal. It's good you caught it early.

Re: Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial

#90

Post by dekhn »

DataWorker wrote: post #54
dekhn wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's not psychology, that's neuroscience, and while generally observed, the phenomenon you describe isnt understood.

Stress isn't psychological? Think about what you are saying!

Strictly speaking, from a conventional mainstream scientific view, stress is physiological. Psychology is a subset of physiology (unless you believe minds are aphysical). The "stress" that you feel in your head when you're stressed is only part of a larger, bodywide physical response.
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