Anaphylaxis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Anaphylaxis, including details on food allergies, diagnosis, treatment, causes.

Advances in allergic skin disease, anaphylaxis, and hypersensitivity reactions to foods, drugs, and insects.

Sicherer SH, Leung DY

The Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA. scott.sicherer@mssm.edu

This review highlights some of the research advances in anaphylaxis; hypersensitivity reactions to foods, drugs, and insects; and allergic skin disease that were reported primarily in the Journal in 2005. Although studies documented deficiencies in community management of anaphylaxis, guidelines and National Institutes of Health summary reports provide direction toward improved research and education. At least 9% of young children "outgrow" a tree nut allergy. Advances in food allergy diagnosis include reports of probability of reactions to peanut at various peanut-specific IgE concentrations and skin test response size and the utility of evaluating IgE binding to specific epitopes. Future food allergy treatments might include selection of "less allergenic" fruit cultivars, genetic silencing of major allergens, and treatment of allergic patients with Chinese herbal remedies. Osteopontin might be a useful biomarker for success of venom immunotherapy. Progress in our understanding of the immunology of atopic dermatitis and autoimmune urticaria has also been made. These observations will likely contribute toward optimizing management of these common allergic disorders.

Published 3 July 2006 in J Allergy Clin Immunol, 118(1): 170-7.
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