Date: 2006-12-12
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King's College London scientists working with clinicians at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust are embarking on a major clinical trial into peanut allergy in children. The £5 million 7 year study involving 480 infants will explore whether or not early exposure to peanuts can reduce the risk of developing an allergy to peanuts.
(Media-Newswire.com) - It is currently not clear how to prevent peanut allergy. Some studies suggest that peanut avoidance in early infancy may help to prevent allergy, whereas other research suggests the opposite may be true. Research led by Professor Gideon Lack of the MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma at King's College London and Imperial College London has been comparing peanut allergies in different parts of the world.
‘In some countries we have found an inverse association between consumption of peanuts in the first year of life and the development of peanut allergy,' explained Professor Lack of King's College London. ‘Recent evidence suggests that children who eat peanut snacks early in life may in fact be protected against peanut allergy, in contrast with previous studies which have suggested the opposite.'
Professor Lack's team will now carry out a randomised, controlled 7 year study involving 480 infants between the ages of 4 and 11 months. The infants will already have eczema or egg allergy and be at a high-risk of developing peanut allergy. They will be randomised into two groups: the interventional group will receive a peanut snack regularly from four months of age for the first three years of life, whereas the control group will completely avoid peanuts. Both groups will be assessed for peanut allergy at five years of age.
The two year clinical recruitment for this ‘LEAP' study (Learning Early About Peanut allergies) has just begun and the team, based at the new Evelina Children's Hospital at St Thomas' Hospital, is currently recruiting children to enter the study. It is funded by, amongst others, the National Institutes of Health, the Immune Intolerance Network and the US-based Food Allergy Initiative.
Peanut allergy has doubled in the past 10 years in the UK, and now affects 1 in 70 primary schoolchildren in the UK as well as the USA. Similarly high levels of peanut allergy have been observed in Australia and Canada. Current national and international guidelines in the UK and USA recommend the avoidance of peanuts during pregnancy, breast feeding and the first three years of childhood.
Professor Lack said, ‘Determining whether avoidance or early exposure to peanut prevents the development of peanut allergy and understanding how this happens will have important clinical implications. Our study findings may result in a change in public health policy to prevent food allergies and will enable scientists to identify important treatment targets to try and develop cures for children who already suffer from peanut allergy.'
Professor Tak Lee, Director of the MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma at King's College London and Imperial College London, added, ‘The evidence to support current guidelines for preventing peanut and other food allergies is lacking. This large trial should provide robust evidence to help inform the right course of action as well as offering a unique opportunity to investigate how and why food allergies develop.'
Interested parents (who have a child with eczema or egg allergy, less than 11 months of age) or health professionals should call the LEAP Study Team at Evelina Children's Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital on 020 7188 9784 or email info@leapstudy.co.uk
Notes to editors
For further information, or to request an interview, please contact Ruth Sargison, Public Relations Department, King's College London. Tel: 020 7848 4334. Email ruth.sargison@kcl.ac.uk
MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma
The Centre was set up in 2005 to tackle severe asthma caused by allergies. The Centre provides excellent prospects for disease prevention and control. It is a partnership between the MRC, Asthma UK, Imperial College London, King's College London and partner NHS Trusts. Research areas include: www.asthma-allergy.ac.uk
The number of people with allergies in the UK has risen approximately three-fold in the last 20 years and one in three of us will develop an allergy at some point in our lives. More young people have asthma in the UK than in any other country in Europe. And the cost is high. Almost thirteen million working days are lost to the condition annually and the Health Service spends around 889m on treating asthma every year.
King's College London
King's College London is the fourth oldest university in England with more than 13,700 undergraduates and nearly 5,600 graduate students in nine schools of study based at five London campuses. It is a member of the Russell Group: a coalition of the UK's major research-based universities. The College has had 24 of its subject-areas awarded the highest rating of 5* and 5 for research quality, demonstrating excellence at an international level, and it has recently received an excellent result in its audit by the Quality Assurance Agency.
King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, international relations, medicine, nursing and the sciences, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to four Medical Research Council Centres – more than any other university.
King's is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings, with income from grants and contracts of more than £100 million, and has an annual turnover of more than £363 million.
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and The Guy's and St Thomas' Children's Allergy Service
Guy's and St Thomas' provides ¾ million patient contacts in acute and specialist hospital services every year. As one of the biggest NHS Trusts in the UK, it employs over 9,000 staff. The Trust also works in partnership with the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Biomedical Sciences of King's College London and other Higher Education Institutes to deliver high quality education and research. Website: www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk
The Guy's and St Thomas' Children's Allergy Service is an integrated clinical and academic unit which aims to combine cutting-edge research with clinical excellence. Contact details for the press: Antony Tiernan, Deputy Director of Communications, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. Tel: 020 7188 5577 or e-mail:. antony.tiernan@gstt.nhs.uk