The Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) completed enrollment this week for the IMPACT Study in peanut allergy. There are 144 participants enrolled in the IMPACT Study (Oral Immunotherapy for Induction of Tolerance and Desensitization in Peanut-Allergic Children), which tests whether giving increasing doses of peanut protein (oral immunotherapy) over a two-year period can induce desensitization to peanut. The trial will also address whether extended oral immunotherapy can create long-lasting tolerance to peanut. While other smaller trials have suggested that peanut immunotherapy may successfully desensitize peanut-allergic individuals, it is not known whether these effects can last without the continued consumption of peanut. The IMPACT study will help answer this question by assessing participants after they have avoided peanut for 26 weeks following completion of immunotherapy.
Earlier this year the results of the ITN’s LEAP Study showed that early introduction of peanut in high-risk infants prevented the development of peanut allergy at age five years. Results from IMPACT will build on these findings by determining whether desensitization and durable tolerance can be achieved in young children who are already allergic to peanut. The results are expected in 2019.
The IMPACT study is being led by Wes Burks, MD (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and is being conducted at four other sites in the US (University of Arkansas, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital, and Mount Sinai Hospital).