Australian researchers report on two new peanut allergy treatments for children that led to remission in about half of children, allowing them to stop treatment and safely eat peanuts.
Earlier this month, a team of Australian researchers, including experts from Perth Children’s Hospital and the Telethon Kids Institute, reported findings from two new treatments for peanut allergies in children that virtually ‘cured’ half of participants.
The study, published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health and led by researchers from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), found that the new treatments were highly effective at inducing remission and desensitisation in participants. In the study, about half of children who participated achieved remission and were able to stop treatment and eat peanuts safely.
About the study
The new randomised controlled trial involved 201 children who were 1-10 years old and took place over a period of four years. The trial, took place in various research centres across Australia, including The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Perth Children’s Hospital, and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide.
Children involved in the study were randomly assigned to receive either a probiotic and peanut oral immunotherapy treatment, a placebo probiotic and peanut oral immunotherapy treatment or just placebo for 18 months.
The new study built on previous findings by this team showing that the combination treatment resulted in 74% of participants achieving remission after 18 months of treatment. Now, in this new study, researchers wanted to test how important was the effect of adding a probiotic component to the combination treatment.
The study found that after 18 months of treatments, 46% and 51% of children who received the combination treatment or the oral immunotherapy alone, respectively, achieved remission. In contrast, among children receiving the placebo, only 5% reached remission. The study also found that addition of the probiotic component did not improve the outcome of children.
For Dr Michael O’Sullivan, a researcher at Telethon Kids Institute and an immunologist at Perth Children’s Hospital involved in the study, a key point of their study is that children with peanut allergies can achieve long-term benefits from oral immunotherapy (OIT).
Why this matters
More broadly, Dr O’Sullivan says their findings serve as a reminder of the importance of exposing young children to peanuts. “Given that only half of the kids who received OIT achieved remission, it reinforces the importance of trying to prevent peanut allergies through the early (from around 6 months of age) and regular introduction of peanut butter for infants,” Dr O’Sullivan added.
Moving forward, Dr O’Sullivan and his team are currently running a trial of peanut OIT for children under 5 years of age, funded by the WA Department of Health and Channel 7 Telethon Trust through the WA Child Research Fund.
Later this year, the team also plans to run another trial testing OIT for multiple nut allergies.
“We hope to be able to offer this treatment option to more children in the coming years while continuing to closely monitor the real-world experience and outcomes of OIT to guide our future practice,” Dr O’Sullivan told Medical Forum.