Use of oral immunotherapy (OIT) for treatment of peanut allergy has increased steadily over the past 10 years. Many practitioners use a common OIT protocol that involves extraction of peanut flour in distilled water, together with addition of Kool-Aid as a flavoring agent. InBio tested the efficacy of extraction and the effect of Kool-Aid on peanut solutions used for OIT. Extraction of peanut flour in distilled water resulted in deficient levels of major peanut allergens. Adding Kool-Aid caused dramatic reductions in Ara h 1 and Ara h 3. The authors concluded that OIT preparations should be validated for allergen content and compared in clinical trials.

In a related paper, Casale and colleagues compared the allergen content and FDA approved peanut OIT product (PTAH) with that of peanut food products that are also used for OIT. The results showed that PTAH had a consistent peanut allergen profile (<2-fold variability), whereas the peanut foods contain variable amounts of allergen and protein. Together, these studies support the need for greater standardization of peanut products used for OIT.

These studies are now online in the Journal of Allergy and Immunology:
Structural determinants of peanut-induced anaphylaxis
Comparison of an FDA-approved peanut oral immunotherapy product with peanut food products

Human IgE mAb to Peanut – Structures Solved!

Dr. Scott Smith and colleagues recently reported the structures of hIgE mAb to Ara h 2 and Ara h 6, defining for the first time actual allergenic epitopes on these major peanut allergens. Strikingly, three of the hIgE mAb recognized conformational epitopes and two recognized linear sites. One of the epitopes caused anaphylaxis in mice. These studies define allergenic sites at the molecular level and should ultimately benefit peanut allergic patients.

Read more here!

Several hIgE mAb used to determine these structures (38B7, 16A8, 8F3, 13D9) are available from InBio.

GAFA 2025

InBio’s President and CEO Dr. Martin Chapman will be speaking at GAFA 2025 in Padua, Italy next Thursday, September 11^th on analytical techniques, including immunoassays and mass spectrometry, for characterizing food allergens to regulatory standards.

ELISA kits – Pre-coated plates for standardized allergen quantification

MARIA^® for Foods – Detect multiple allergens from a single sample