The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
The annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology was held from March 3 to 6 in Atlanta and attracted more than 5,000 participants from around the world, including clinicians, academicians, allied health professionals, and others interested in allergic and immunologic disease. The conference highlighted recent advances in allergy, asthma, and immunology.
In one study, Tolly Epstein, M.D., of the University of Cincinnati, and colleagues found that infection risk from subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy appears to be extremely low, and mortality very rare.
“No infections were reported in 9.5 million allergen immunotherapy injection visits and almost 1.4 million patients in 2014 to 2015. Three fatal systemic allergic reactions occurred related to subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy between 2008 to 2015, out of 46.6 million injection visits. Asthma was a major risk factor for more severe reactions,” Epstein said. “Current practices to prevent infections from allergen immunotherapy appear to be adequate. We should continue to focus on asthma screening and appropriate selection of patients for immunotherapy to minimize risks related to systemic allergic reactions.”
Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, M.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Jaffe Food Allergy Institute in New York City, and colleagues reported the results of the first multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of vital wheat gluten oral immunotherapy (VWG OIT) in children and young adults with immunoglobulin E-mediated food allergy.
“VWG OIT induced desensitization, defined as an increased successfully consumed dose of wheat, in over half of the treated subjects at study year one,” Nowak-Wegrzyn said. After two years of lower-dose wheat OIT, 30 percent of patients achieved desensitization, while 13 percent demonstrated sustained unresponsiveness after stopping VWG OIT for eight to 10 weeks. “The safety profile of VWG OIT was comparable to milk, egg, and peanut OIT,” Nowak-Wegrzyn said. “At this point, OIT is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; however, the study shows that OIT can use different foods with comparable outcomes regarding desensitization.”
Robbie D. Pesesk, M.D., of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, and colleagues found that walnut OIT over a maximum of 142 weeks was able to successfully desensitize 87 percent of tree nut allergic patients to both walnut and a second tree nut.
“Over 50 percent of these subjects also displayed sustained unresponsiveness to both walnut and the second tree nut after stopping treatment for four weeks. There was a significant increase in the amount of tolerated walnut throughout the study. Treatment was safe, with greater than 12,000 doses given and no reactions requiring epinephrine were seen,” Pesesk said. “This was a small study; thus, I do not think it is ready for use in the clinical setting at this time. Larger studies need to be performed before clinical use.”
Hugh A. Sampson, M.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Jaffe Food Allergy Institute in New York City, and colleagues found that 36-month data from the OLFUS-VIPES study support the lasting response and favorable safety and tolerability profile of Viaskin Peanut 250 µg in peanut-allergic children 6 to 11 years of age. OLFUS-VIPES is a two-year, open-label follow-up study of the Viaskin Peanut’s Efficacy and Safety phase IIb clinical trial, which met its primary efficacy end point at 12 months.
“The detailed results show that in children who continued treatment for three years, the effect of Viaskin Peanut 250 µg was sustained or increased without any major safety issues. After completion of three years of treatment with the 250 µg dose, 83.3 percent of children in this subgroup responded to therapy, compared to 53.6 percent at the completion of VIPES,” Sampson said. “At the end of OLFUS, cumulative reactive doses reaching 1,000 mg or more of peanut protein during the oral food challenge were observed in 61 percent of children receiving Viaskin Peanut 250 µg, which was double the number of patients reaching that cumulative reactive dose at the completion of VIPES.”
Viaskin Peanut is a product of DBV Technologies, which funded the study.
AAAAI: Obese Girls Appear to Be More Prone to Atopic Disease
TUESDAY, March 7, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Obese girls may face a significantly higher risk for developing allergies, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, held from March 3 to 6 in Atlanta.
AAAAI: Early-Life Secondhand Smoke May Up Food Allergy Risk
TUESDAY, March 7, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Exposure to secondhand smoke in the first few weeks of life could increase the risk that children will develop food allergies, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, held from March 3 to 6 in Atlanta.
AAAAI: Asthma More Likely to Prove Fatal in Black Children
MONDAY, March 6, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Black American children are six times more likely to die from asthma than their white or Hispanic peers, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, held from March 3 to 6 in Atlanta.
AAAAI: Low Vitamin E in Mothers Can Up Asthma Risk in Offspring
MONDAY, March 6, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Children born to mothers with low levels of vitamin E might be more likely to develop asthma, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, held from March 3 to 6 in Atlanta.
Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
