A group of Yukihiro Oya, director of the National Center for Child Health and Development Allergy Center, and Yukihisa Murata, associate professor of the University of Tokyo, are conducting clinical research on new test methods that are useful for food allergy testing and therapeutic effects, and are safe for allergic symptoms. It was clarified that it can be detected safely and accurately.
The number of patients with food allergies is increasing rapidly all over the world.Currently, the diagnostic method includes an oral food challenge test, and the treatment method includes oral immunotherapy that continues to eat a small amount of food itself.The oral food challenge test is an invasive (physical burden) test with a risk of anaphylaxis, and allergic symptoms may occur due to psychological effects, and it may be difficult to determine if the symptoms are minor.
This time, we measured urinary PGDM (a metabolite of prostaglandin D2) and verified whether allergic symptoms during the oral food challenge test could be detected correctly.Urine for children who have undergone a double-blind oral food challenge test (a method that does not inform doctors / patients of the nature of food) on eggs, milk, and wheat, and children who have undergone oral immunotherapy for chicken eggs. The PGDM inside was measured.
As a result, urinary PGDM increased when allergic symptoms were induced in the stress test.In addition, patients who did not have an increase in urinary PGDM levels during oral immunotherapy, in which allergens were taken orally in small doses to treat food allergies, were desensitized (ingestion of a very small amount of allergen and gradually increasing the amount to increase hypersensitivity. It was found that it is easy to obtain the therapeutic effect of immunotherapy by acquiring a state of (attenuating).
This time, it was proved that it is a technology that can objectively diagnose food allergies and monitor treatment safely and securely by using urine that can be easily collected even from small children.It is said that it can contribute to the establishment of safe food oral challenge tests and oral immunotherapy that do not burden patients.