Oral Immunotherapy for Food Allergic Patients

Summer is here, but allergy never takes a vacation. The work on allergy research and treatment continues year round at Assaf HaRofeh/Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center, and we are pleased to present you with an update. The big news is the recent publication of our study on sesame allergy diagnosis in the journal, Clinical & Experimental Allergy. 

Reports of sesame allergy have increased in recent years, and it is a particular concern in Middle Eastern countries like Israel. Due to its broad presence in the Israeli diet, sesame may often be suspected as a triggering allergen. However, confirmation of sesame allergy is not straightforward. Oral food challenges can be performed, but can be traumatic, and are not without risks. Other allergy tests however, have not demonstrated sufficient accuracy. In our study we looked at two alternative allergy tests: a high protein sesame extract skin prick test, and a blood-based basophil activation test. We found that by combining these two allergy tests for sesame, we were able to predict the results of oral food challenges, with 91% accuracy. While our findings are still preliminary pending validation by a prospective study, they do indicate many patients with suspected sesame allergy might not need an oral food challenge for diagnosis. With eighty patients evaluated, this study is the largest to date using the basophil activation test for sesame allergy diagnosis. A link to our paper is included at the bottom of this update.

We thank you, our donors, for the support you have given us in this project. We aim for continued success in our work of investigating, diagnosing and treating food allergy, and look forward to having you as our partners.

Best wishes for a relaxing and enjoyable summer!

Links:

• Link to our paper on sesame allergy diagnosis

With the arrival of the warmer and sunnier days of spring, it is our pleasure to present you with an update from the Center for Allergy at the Assaf HaRofeh/Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center. As you might imagine, the process of food allergy diagnosis and treatment can be quite stressful especially for young children and their families. At the Center, we are constantly searching for ways to improve the experience. Our waiting room has a number of computers, as well as board games. We also have an outdoor play area, which will likely see more use now that the winter rains have passed. In addition, the Center has regular visits from medical clowns, who definitely are able to lighten up the mood for many of our patients. The benefits of clowns in a variety of clinical settings have been recognized for the past 45 years. Within the realm of food allergy, another Israeli group demonstrated that medical clowns could improve the pediatric patient experience during skin prick tests. We recently obtained a grant to study the efficacy of medical clowns during other food allergy interventions, specifically oral food challenges and oral immunotherapy. Given the high number of food allergy challenges and treatments we perform, this study should be quite informative. Of course we owe gratitude to you, our donors, whose funding at the $25 level assisted in generating some of the preliminary data for this project. As described on our donation page, we are looking to fund several other projects related to food allergy treatment and research. We encourage you to spread the word and partner with us in making advances in the field!