On Friday, September 19, we welcomed a diverse audience of students, researchers, physicians, industry professionals, food-allergic patients, and more to the inaugural UNC Food Allergy Initiative Research Symposium at the North Carolina Botanical Gardens.
Presentation Highlights
Dr. Hugh Sampson, MD The Potential of Epitope-antibody Profiling in the Diagnosis & Management of Food Allergy
Dr. Sampson, our keynote speaker, reviewed the development of the bead-based epitope assay [BBEA] and its status in the diagnosis of food allergy. While BBEA has been validated as a potential diagnostic biomarker for peanut allergy, more studies are needed to validate it as a diagnostic test for other allergens. BBEA may be useful in predicting degrees of milk and egg sensitivity and early identification of infants at risk of developing peanut, milk, or egg allergy.
Read more about bead-based epitope assays:
Novel bead-based epitope assay is a sensitive and reliable tool for profiling epitope-specific antibody repertoire in food allergy
Dr. Timothy Moran, MD, PhD Environmental risk factors for food allergy development
Dr. Moran gave an engaging talk on the role of the “exposome” in food allergy development. He discussed evidence on how environmental exposures may increase the risk for food sensitization and allergy, described the immune mechanisms by which air pollutants promote sensitization to peanut allergens in an animal model, and reviewed interventions that can mitigate environmental risk factors for food allergies.
Dr. Corinne Keet, MD, PhD Are there long-term consequences to asymptomatic food sensitization?
Dr. Keet presented her research on the association of food sensitization with cardiovascular [CV] mortality. She discussed milk sensitization in particular as a risk factor for CV mortality, though evidence may point to shrimp and peanut as risk factors as well. While epidemiologic evidence shows a higher CV risk among individuals sensitized to at least one food, future research is needed to clarify the mechanisms of this increased risk.
Recommended reading: IgE to common food allergens is associated with cardiovascular mortality in the National Health and Examination Survey and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis
Dr. Lauren Herlihy, DNP, CPNP, APRN; Dr. Katherine Jordan, MD Partnering for Prevention: Advancing Strategies for Infant Allergen Introduction
Dr. Herlihy discussed the importance of collaboration and the current efforts by UNC to improve infant allergen introduction. She then passed the mic to Dr. Jordan, who spoke on the role of primary care providers and the shared goal of increasing consumption of allergenic foods in the first year of life. Some strategies to increase infant allergen introduction include adding generalized allergenic food questions into diet history, updating patient-facing handouts on safe preparation instructions of allergenic foods, and working with EPIC analysts to design dashboards that better capture data on allergen ingestion.
Recommended reading: Early Peanut Introduction in Infants: Improving Guideline Adherence With EMR Standardization
Erin Hosein, MA, MS, RD, LD Trends in Allergen Consumption: Insights from 20 Years of NHANES Data
Erin Hosein gave an overview of food allergy consumption guidelines in the United States and presented data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003-2023), which showed that, despite updated guidelines, infant peanut consumption remains low and that racial and ethnic differences emerged after infancy. She concluded that public health campaigns should consider cultural and familial dietary patterns when promoting early introduction efforts.
Recommended reading: Temporal, Age, and Racial and Ethnic Trends in Allergen Consumption from 2-Day 24-Hour Recalls, NHANES 2003-2023
Dr. Katherine Caid, MD Increasing Food Allergy Prevalence and Racial Disparities in the National Health Interview Survey
Dr. Caid presented her work on food allergy prevalence and racial disparities. She analyzed the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and found that the prevalence of self-reported food allergy continues to increase, with the fastest increase among non-Hispanic Black children compared to non-Hispanic White and Hispanic children.
Recommended reading: Temporal trends and racial/ethnic disparity in self-reported pediatric food allergy in the United States
Dr. Edwin Kim, MD, MS Update on Immunotherapy for Food Allergy, Ongoing Research at UNC
Dr. Kim gave an overview of current immunotherapies for food allergy. While oral immunotherapy (OIT) is the best studied treatment, it comes with significant risk that can make it difficult for some. Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) may be a better option for patients who are unable to do OIT due to safety concerns, or for patients who have limited access to allergist care. Other promising treatment options that require further study are epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT) and peptide immunotherapy.
Dr. Kim then reviewed ongoing studies at the UNC Food Allergy Initiative before giving the closing remarks.