Researchers Discover Treatments that Induce Peanut Allergy Remission in Children

Researchers have discovered two Peanut allergy treatments for children that are both highly effective at inducing remission. The research, led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute found the treatments combination of a probiotic together with oral immunotherapy and oral immunotherapy significantly induced remission and desensitization.

About half of the children achieved remission, allowing them to stop treatment and safely eat Peanut freely. Both treatments also provided substantial improvement in quality of life compared with current standard care. The randomized controlled trial conducted at The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Perth Children’s Hospital, and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide involved 201 children aged between 1-10 years. The trial was staged over four years, with participants followed up to 12-months post-treatment.

The team led by MCRI Professor Mimi Tang had previously shown that the combination treatment resulted in 74 percent achieving remission after 18 months of treatment, and 70 percent of those initial responders remained in remission and were eating Peanut safely four years later. The next step was to test whether adding a probiotic gave a benefit over and above oral immunotherapy on its own and to compare long-term outcomes following treatment.

The children who reached clinical remission were able to stop treatment and eat around a standard serving of Peanut freely. Both treatments also led to a significant improvement in quality of life, with those children who achieved clinical remission experiencing the biggest improvement, greater than those who only achieved desensitization.