In the United States, an estimated 32 million have a serious, potentially life-threatening food allergy. The number of emergency claims for treating anaphylaxis to food increased by 377% from 2007 to 2016.

There are no approved treatments for food allergy. Allergists advise patients to avoid problem foods and always carry epinephrine to treat dangerous symptoms. However, according to a recent survey of food allergy patients, more than half reported mental health concerns related to anxiety because of this.

The good news is that hope is on the horizon. Prospects for food allergy treatment are at various stages of development.

Allergen immunotherapies 
Many allergy treatments involve giving patients the food proteins they’re allergic to, starting with tiny amounts, and raising the dose over time to increase tolerance. For some, immunotherapy successfully retrains their immune system — they can tolerate the food they were allergic to even after stopping treatment. Others can still tolerate allergens as long as they eat the food each day after completing oral immunotherapy. Some patients remain sensitive to their allergen and some leave treatment due to adverse reactions including hives, swelling, and vomiting.

Methods for food allergen immunotherapies can include eating the problem food, placing dissolved food protein under the tongue, and absorbing food protein from a patch on the skin. Nasal spray food protein vaccines are being studied in mice. Researchers have also safety tested a vaccine containing peanut DNA in adults. Two peanut protein immunotherapies have completed clinical trials and another is being reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval.

Other developments
Researchers have made remarkable progress recently in developing anti-allergy drugs created from immune proteins called antibodies. These biologic drugs specifically block the chain of events that cause allergy symptoms. Some are already approved to treat other allergic diseases like asthma and eczema, and they are now being tested to treat food allergies, both as standalone treatments and in combination with food-allergen immunotherapies. This is a pivotal moment in food allergy research. We have never been closer to offering effective treatments, and the need for those treatments has never been greater. Investing in innovative therapies, diagnostics, and prevention will pay dividends in protecting public health.

Written by:
Thomas Casale, M.D.,
Chief Medical Advisor for Operations, Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE)

To search for medical conditions in a specific location, visit our Search Clinical Trials page.

To stay informed about clinical trials, visit our Resources page.

Volunteer opportunities with CISCRP, visit our Volunteer page.

Without clinical trials, “we’ll never push forward,” said Gigi Lozano, Ph.D., a professor and chair of the department of genetics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr. Lozano spends every day in a science lab conducting tumor studies on mice. She’s confident these studies and other medical research will lead to breakthroughs in cancer.

The value in diversity

Clinical trials need ethnically diverse participants so scientists and doctors can develop a greater understanding of how diseases like cancer impact different people of different backgrounds.

“It’s critical people of all backgrounds participate in these trials because what works for one won’t work for another,” said Dr. Lozano, a longstanding member of the Stand Up to Cancer Scientific Advisory Committee, helping guide the non-profit’s science portfolio and reviewing its research grants.

The impact of genetics

Dr. Lozano knows genetics play a significant role in whether or not cancer cells develop.

“Culture and environment are two big factors that impact how tumors develop and how they grow,” she said, noting some families have an inherited predisposition to a particular disease.

“In the Mexican American population, they have some genetic predisposition… there’s a propensity for diabetes and also a propensity for liver cancer, and we don’t understand that,” she said.

Hispanic participation in clinical trials can help researchers figure out how to track, treat, and ultimately prevent these illnesses.

“[If] we can identify the drivers of the disease,” Dr. Lozano said, “then we can understand [how] to undermine their activities [in order] to kill the tumor cell.”

She says many clinical trials are now based on understanding the genetics of a tumor, picking drugs that fit those genetics, and then seeing what changes happen.

Helping Hispanics

Lack of awareness and hesitation to get involved may be barriers to Latino participation in clinical trials. Language can play a role, too, since most clinical trials are in English.

Still, Dr. Lozano encourages Hispanics to participate in clinical trials for themselves and for the next generation.

“It’s going to help your people. It’s going to help others in your situation,” she said. “It might be your neighbor or a child in your community.”

Written by Kristen Castillo

To search for medical conditions in a specific location, visit our Search Clinical Trials page.

To stay informed about clinical trials, visit our Resources page.

Volunteer opportunities with CISCRP, visit our Volunteer page.

Medical heroes can be found everywhere. They are parents, grandparents, siblings, children, friends, colleagues, and ordinary people who have chosen to give the extraordinary gift of participation in clinical research. Their decision to participate is a selfless act, an altruistic gift; there are always risks but no guarantee that an investigational treatment will work. Still, medical heroes help us as a society gain valuable knowledge about the nature of disease, its progression, and how — and how not — to treat it. Future generations are ultimately the direct recipients of this gift. 

Most people — particularly those in underserved communities — are not aware of, and may not have easy access to, clinical research. Most stumble upon clinical trials when faced with the sudden and often unexpected prospect of a serious and debilitating illness for which no medication is available or adequate. Typically, patients, their families, friends, and their healthcare providers must gather information quickly to make decisions about whether and where to participate. This rush to navigate the unfamiliar terrain of clinical research can be overwhelming and confusing.

Raising awareness

In 2004, the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) was founded to provide outreach and education to those individuals considering participation in clinical trials. This special nonprofit organization focuses its energy and resources on raising general awareness, on educating patients and the public, and on enhancing study volunteer experiences during and after clinical trial participation. 

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive movement disorder that occurs when nerve cells in the brain don’t make enough dopamine, a chemical that typically helps the body to move easily and with coordination.

Denise Coley, 70 years old and a grandmother of four, was diagnosed in January 2018. She thought her life was over. She had balance issues, trouble walking, stiffness, problems with motor skills, insomnia, and fatigue. She had a “pity party” for herself but didn’t let the disease, which doesn’t have a cure, keep her down for long. Instead, after a long career in supplier diversity consulting and community outreach, she decided to commit to pro-viding education and support to others with PD.

“I just had to take everything that I had from the past — my education, my resources, my experience giving back — and become an advocate to bring awareness to this disease,” Coley said.

Cultural awareness

“Denise got the diagnosis, but the fam-ily got Parkinson’s disease,” explained Denise’s husband and care partner, Bernard. “Parkinson’s affects not just the patient, but all those around the patient, and especially the immediate family.”

Denise has resources to manage her disease, as well as the support of her family, but she knows not everyone with PD is as fortunate. She and Bernard are PD research advocates, especially for Black PD patients and other people of color. They took courses from a learning institute and got empowered as PD patient, caregiver, and now, advocates. They know there are disparities in health that people of color experience, including lack of access, late diagnosis, and lack of cultural awareness in service providers.

The Parkinson’s and Movement Disorder Alliance (PMD Alliance) says Black patients have a higher risk of death from PD compared to white patients. A delayed diagnosis is a significant cause of this, with patients often being further along in disease progression. Further, PMD Alliance says more clinical trials need to report their participants’ racial composition, since current data shows that less than 2% are Black.

That’s why the Coleys, who have been married for 46 years, spent two years assisting the compiling of, “The PD Movers, We Keep Moving: Living and Thriving with Parkinson’s Disease in our Black and African American Communities,” a culturally sensitive e-book for outreach to the Black com-munity. They say the community needs to get engaged and increase awareness about PD, and stories in the e-book highlight the challenges and opportunities someone with the condition faces in a culturally sensitive way.

Clinical research

Denise, who’s participated in many clinical trials, wants to live her best life. For her, it means being able to engage with her grandchildren. She does Rock Steady Boxing and tai chi, which help improve her balance and motor symptoms.

The couple wants clinical trials to recruit more people of diverse back-grounds, and to get people of diverse backgrounds to help design and review the clinical studies as well.