Oral Immunotherapy for Egg Allergy Desensitization
Katherine S. L. Tuttle
Tanya M. Laidlaw
Oral Immunotherapy for Treatment of Egg Allergy in Children
Burks AW, Jones SM, Wood RA, et al; Consortium of Food Allergy Research (CoFAR). N Engl J Med. 2012;367(3):233–243
Background
Avoidance is the only currently recommended therapy for food allergy, although it is fraught with challenges. Recently, oral immunotherapy (OIT) showed efficacy in desensitizing milk and peanut allergic children in small studies, but the safety and efficacy of OIT for egg allergy was previously unknown.
Objectives
To examine the efficacy and safety of egg OIT to induce “sustained unresponsiveness” (ability to consume 10 g egg-white powder and a cooked egg without significant symptoms after egg avoidance for 4 to 6 weeks) and “desensitization” (ability to pass an oral food challenge [OFC] while receiving daily OIT) in children with egg allergy.
Methods
Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 5 US centers from 2007 to 2010.
