New York, NY (May 31, 2024) – The Food Allergy Fund (FAF), the leading nonprofit that funds food allergy research, has marked a significant milestone in the field: A first-ever Food Allergy Research Roadmap, a comprehensive guide designed to accelerate medical discovery and development progress within the next five years.
To avoid potentially life-threatening anaphylaxis, individuals with food allergy must avoid the allergen(s) they are sensitized to. Treatment options to prevent anaphylaxis from accidental or therapeutic allergen ingestion remain limited. The goal of our lab is to identify new therapeutic interventions to prevent allergic reactions to food based on fundamental mechanistic studies.
Identification of an allergen agnostic therapeutic that could reduce reaction risk by improving allergen threshold, reducing reaction severity, or providing an adjuvant effect to enhance the safety and efficacy of oral immunotherapy, would be a major advance for food allergy treatment. We propose that repurposing a JAK inhibitor, specifically Abrocitinib, for food allergy could meet this goal.Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors are a type of medication that treat diseases by blocking JAK enzymes that send signals that start inflammatory immune processes.
Marc E. Rothenberg MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, Bunning Chair of Allergy and Immunology, Director, Division of Allergy and Immunology, Director, Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders Director, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center as Principal Investigator
Cathryn R. Nagler, Ph.D.,Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and Departments of Pathology, Pediatrics and Medicine Biological Sciences Division, University of Chicago as Principal Investigator
Dr. Jeffrey A. Hubbell, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago and Dr. Cathryn R. Nagler, Biological Sciences Division, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, as Co-Principal Investigators
