Scientists at Northwestern University have discovered a drug that could offer a new approach to treating life-threatening food allergies.
The drug Zileuton, a pill that has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is used for asthma.
Dr. Stephanie Eisenbarth and Dr. Adam Williams, co-senior study authors who work in allergy and immunology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, conducted a study on mice that showed the drug could lead to new protection for millions of people living with food allergies.
The scientists identified – in mice – a previously unknown role for a gene, which they found is essential in regulating anaphylaxis, a rapid and potentially fatal allergic reaction, according to a news release from Northwestern.
“Once we identified the gene in the mouse model, it was pretty clear the pathway that was involved, in protecting the mice,” Williams explained. “And as soon as we realized that, then we saw that that, you know, a number of medications already FDA approved to inhibit this pathway, right, and so it wasn’t a huge leap for us then to try and test these medications in our animal model.”
The mice were given peanut extract orally shortly after receiving Zileuton, while the research team monitored for symptoms, the news release stated.
“After treatment with Zileuton, 95% of the mice showed almost no symptoms of anaphylaxis. The treatment reversed their risk from 95% susceptible to 95% protected,” Williams said.
With Zileuton, users would be able to take the simple pill, which would block the body’s anaphylactic pathway before it activates.
“Let’s say you’re going to a child’s birthday party, you’re getting on an airplane, you’re going out to a restaurant, and you are trying to protect yourself from potentially very small, limited amounts of exposure that might be contaminating a food that you’re taking in, this might be able to prevent that limited amount of allergen from getting in and triggering that anaphylactic reaction,” Eisenbarth stated.
There are only two FDA-approved treatments for food allergies – an oral immunotherapy for peanut allergies that doesn’t work for everyone and omalizumab, a costly injection that isn’t always effective either.
A clinical trial, Eisenbarth said, is the important next step.
“…Because we want to we have defined a very clear pathway really potent in mice, but we need to understand if the same thing is true in humans,” she stated.
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