New research points to a potential wrinkle in a promising treatment for severe peanut allergies: Reactions can return if the treatments stop.
Roughly 1.25 million children in the U.S. have peanut allergies. Their immune systems go into overdrive when they encounter peanuts, producing antibodies that kickstart a process of inflammation and other allergic responses like swelling and hives.
The only current solution is avoiding peanuts. But recent clinical trials have explored a treatment intended to make recipients more peanut-tolerant. By eating tiny amounts of peanut protein powder every day, patients with strong allergies can eat more of the legume without breaking out in hives, vomiting or enduring other difficult allergic reactions. But new lab analyses suggest that if people finish therapy and go too long without consuming any peanut products, they might lose some of the immunity they had built up.
The results, published in The Journal of Allergy and ...
