HRC funded Malaghan Institute of Medical Research scientists Professor Graham Le Gros and Dr Elizabeth Forbes-Blom, have shown that under special circumstances, having a child’s skin come into contact with peanuts is all that is required for them to develop an allergic immune response.
Their research, which has just been published in the journal of Clinical & Experimental Allergy, used unique GFP-reporter mice to investigate whether other routes in the body, such as skin contact, were relevant for sensitising the immune system to peanuts.
The skin of most patients with eczema is colonised with Staphylococcus aureus, and superantigens produced by these bacteria can make their allergic skin irritations significantly worse. These same infections are also being increasingly implicated in the development of food allergies.
Professor Le Gros and Dr Forbes-Blom showed that the superantigens were able to amplify the immune response that develops in response to peanut extract coming into contact with the skin. On subsequent skin exposure, the allergic immune response to peanuts was stronger, even in the absence of the bacterial toxins.
“Previous clinical data suggest that repeated exposure of the skin to peanuts can lead to the development of peanut specific allergic immune responses,” says Professor Le Gros. “Our results show how this could be happening at the cellular level and highlight the importance of concomitant Staph infections in amplifying this process in individuals with eczema.”
- Link to the TVNZ website to view a ONE News Special Report on the Malaghan's food allergy research, which aired on Monday 19 September 2011.