Biologic therapy for food allergy

Meng Chen; Wenming Zhang; Lisa Lee; Jamie Saxena; Sayantani Sindher; R Sharon Chinthrajah; Christopher Dant; Kari Nadeau

doi:10.2500/jfa.2020.2.200004

Biologic therapy for food allergy

J Food Allergy. 2020 Sep 1;2(1):86-90. doi: 10.2500/jfa.2020.2.200004. eCollection 2020 Sep.

Authors

Meng Chen^{1

2}, Wenming Zhang¹, Lisa Lee¹, Jamie Saxena¹, Sayantani Sindher^{1

2}, R Sharon Chinthrajah^{1

2}, Christopher Dant¹, Kari Nadeau^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ From the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University, Stanford University, Stanford, California, and.
² Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California.

Abstract

With the rising prevalence, food allergies have become a significant health burden that affects 6% to 13% of the global population. Although oral immunotherapy (OIT) has been promising for food allergies, this therapy has limitations, including high rates of adverse reactions and long treatment periods. Biologics may address these limitations by increasing the safety and tolerability of OIT and decreasing treatment periods. The use of biologics and vaccines are actively being explored as monotherapy as well as adjunctive therapy in combination with allergen specific OIT. A number of biologics that target key molecules known to be involved in food allergy are under investigation, including anti-immunoglobulin E therapy (omalizumab), anti-interleukin (IL) 4 receptor a (dupilumab), anti-IL-5 (mepolizumab and reslizumab), and anti-IL-5R (benralizumab), anti-IL-33 (etokimab), and peanut DNA plasmid vaccines. In the era of precision medicine, the future of food allergy looks promising, and biologics will provide treatment as well as further insights into the molecular mechanisms associated with food allergy.