Patch against peanut allergy

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A peanut allergy can be life threatening. A desensitization with a skin plaster could protect.

Peanut allergy sufferers have a particularly difficult time. For one, peanut traces are very common in processed foods. On the other hand, peanut allergies are often particularly severe.Even traces of peanuts can trigger severe allergic reactions and even allergic shock in many of those affected.

"To avoid potentially life-threatening allergic reactions, people with a peanut allergy need to be very vigilant," says Anthony Faust, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectus Deaseases, which funded the patch desensitization study ingesting them - that can be very stressful. "

Desensitization - tolerance built up

With a desensitization, formerly also called desensitization, the risk of severe reactions can be significantly reduced. The patient regularly consumes the smallest amounts of the respective allergen under medical supervision. Gradually, if successful, the patient's tolerance increases and he can tolerate increasingly larger amounts.

Peanut patch on the skin

Now researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine and the University of Arcansas have developed and tested a patch that continuously releases peanut proteins into the skin throughout the day.

For one year, 74 peanut allergy sufferers between the ages of 4 and 25 were given a plaster daily on their arm or between their shoulder blades. These each contained either 250 micrograms or 100 micrograms of peanut protein - or no allergen at all.

Ten times the dose

At the end of the year, the cure had worked for almost half of the participants: Compared to the tolerance tested at the start of the study, they could now tolerate ten times the dose of peanut proteins. The desensitization worked particularly well with the younger participants under the age of twelve.

Precise and safe

A big advantage of the plasters is that in this way the dosage of the allergens is very precise, uncomplicated and safe. And unlike an orally applied desensitization, which 10 to 15 percent of the patients cannot tolerate, the patch therapy proved to be well tolerated. There were no serious side effects, only minor skin irritations were observed. The adherence to therapy was also high: almost all participants used the patches consistently throughout the year.

The study is now to run for another two years to confirm the safety and effectiveness of the anti-allergy patches over a longer period of time.

Source: Stacie M. Jones et al .: Epicutaneous immunotherapy for the treatment of peanut allergy in children and young adults, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Published online: October 26, 2016

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