Researchers Find Possible Cure for Peanut Allergies
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Living with a peanut allergy can be extremely difficult with so many foods having trace amounts of peanuts inside. But a new study from Northwestern University may provide some relief for the millions suffering today.
According to the study, published in the latest issue of Journal of Immunology, researchers in Chicago may have found a cure for peanut allergies by tricking the immune system into think the nut proteins are not a threat to the body.
“We think we’ve found a way to safely and rapidly turn off the allergic response to food allergies,” said study author Paul Bryce, an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in a statement.
Bryce and his team used mice bred to mimic a life-threatening peanut allergy and then attached peanut proteins to white blood cells, then reintroduced the cells into the mice’s bodies. When given peanuts extract the mice had no allergic reaction.
"Their immune system saw the peanut protein as perfectly normal because it was already presented on the white blood cells," Bryce said. "Without the treatment, these animals would have gone into anaphylactic shock."
Bryce also was able to desensitize the mice to egg proteins and believes this method could be used to target multiple food allergies at once.
Peanuts are the leading cause of fatal food-related anaphylaxis.