SAN DIEGO, CA – Research has shown that peanut oral immunotherapy can produce desensitization and even sustained unresponsiveness, or the ability to eat peanut without an allergic response to it. Yet what is the optimal dose needed to produce sustained unresponsiveness? A study presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) investigated this question.

 

“Encouraging continued peanut consumption after reaching the point of desensitization is one of the challenges of oral immunotherapy. In light of that, our goal was to find out if consuming just a small amount of peanut would be enough to allow for sustained unresponsiveness,” said Scott P. Commins, MD, PhD, one of the study authors.

To find answers, researchers gave twenty peanut-allergic subjects between the ages of 4 and 19 peanut oral immunotherapy. A food challenge to assess desensitization was performed after a year. The subjects were then transitioned to consuming one to two peanuts daily, or approximately 300 to 600 milligrams (mg) of peanut protein. Once serum peanut-specific IgE

was less than 15 IU/mL, they underwent a second food challenge following four weeks of intentionally avoiding eating peanut. Sustained unresponsiveness was marked by passing this second food challenge.

Seventeen of 20 subjects achieved desensitization, passing the first oral food challenge that had them each consume 5,000 mg of peanut protein. Three

subjects withdrew from the study due to side effects.

After desensitization, 10 subjects continued consuming one to two peanuts daily at home for a median of 8.7 months until serum peanut-specific IgE was less than 15 IU/mL. All 10 passed the second food challenge, which had them consume another 5,000 mg of peanut protein following a  the one to two peanuts a day dose, as their