Future approaches to food allergy.
Food allergy affects approximately 2% of the general US population, and its prevalence seems to be increasing. Despite the potential for a fatal outcome, no definitive therapies are available for food allergy. This article reviews novel approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of food allergy. Improved diagnostic methods include more precise in vitro and in vivo tests for immunoglobulin E-mediated food allergies, in vitro assays for predicting development of oral tolerance, and novel noninvasive tests for cell-mediated food allergies such as patch testing, cytokine assays, and detection of eosinophil activation markers. Several promising novel immunomodulatory approaches to food allergy are discussed, including monoclonal anti-immunoglobulin E; probiotics; traditional Chinese medicine; and immunotherapy with modified food proteins, peptides, bacterial adjuvants, and immunostimulatory sequences.
Nowak-Wegrzyn
Anna
A
Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York 10029-6574, USA. anna.nowak-wegrzyn@mssm.edu
D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests