Oral Immunotherapy for Food Allergic Patients

Greetings from Assaf Harofeh! As we get ready to close the books on 2018, we at the Center for Food Allergy are proud to point to a number of highlights from the outgoing year:

- A new state of the art facility, allowing for treatment of up to 240 new patients per year

- Publication of eight articles relating to methods for diagnosis of food allergy, as well as its clinical management

- Oral and poster presentations regarding our clinical and research work at an international allergy meeting held in Jerusalem (Israel Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Allergy meeting)

-Collaborative efforts to characterize biomarkers predictive of, and related to food allergy

We are gearing up for an even better 2019. One specific focus is that of our microbiome project. In recent years, there has been much research investigating links between resident microbes of the human gut and various health conditions. Food allergy develops in part, due to a deficiency in immune tolerance-inducing mechanisms that are normally present in the gut. Many molecules produced by gut microbes can affect immune cell orientation, and we are therefore interested in determining whether microbial products found in stool samples from different patients differentially affect immune cell orientation. We have already obtained some preliminary data which we hope to build on in time for the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology meeting in February. Your support will enable us to continue this work in trying to better understand the underpinnings of food allergy development, and develop better strategies in its treatment via oral immunotherapy.

Thank you for your support. Looking forward to our continued partnership in 2019!

All the best for a wonderful and successful new year.