Transcriptome changes during peanut oral immunotherapy and omalizumab treatment

Abstract

Transcriptome changes during peanut oral immunotherapy and omalizumab treatmentTo the Editor, Peanut allergy is a common food allergy and the main cause of anaphylaxis among children 1 . In recent years, oral immunotherapy has emerged as a promising treatment for children with different IgE-mediated food allergies, although safety issues must be considered 2 . The main aim of immunotherapy is to induce tolerance or desensitization to an allergen which otherwise causes an allergic reaction. For oral immunotherapy this means ingesting the allergen in a controlled manner with gradually increasing dosages. Specifically, peanut oral immunotherapy (pOIT) is able to induce tolerance/desensitization 3 . While the pathogenesis of food allergy in general is relatively well-studied 4 , mechanisms of OIT-induced tolerance are not well understood. Omalizumab (anti-IgE) used as treatment for severe allergic asthma and other IgE-driven allergies, can facilitate OIT initiation 5 , however, little is known about the involved mechanisms, including possible changes at the transcriptional level. We therefore investigated transcriptional changes in whole blood using RNAsequencing profiles during omalizumab treatment and pOIT in participants from the FASTX (Food Allergen Suppression Therapy with Xolair ®) study previously described in detail elsewhere 5 .