New study to identify prenatal and early childhood symptoms with high risk for food allergy and eczema

Studies have begun to identify prenatal and early childhood symptoms with a high risk for food allergy and atopic dermatitis, or eczema, as well as biological pathways leading to these conditions, have begun.

A subjective study of children from birth to 3 years of age examines the origin of allergic disease by integrating interdisciplinary analyzes of data from more than 260 biological and environmental samples and survey responses from each of 2,500 families.

Systems Biology known as Early Atopy, or SUNBEAM, the study is supported and funded by the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Millions of children around the world suffer from eczema and food allergies – diseases that greatly affect quality of life. Currently, there is no reliable way to treat those children who are expecting to develop eczema or food allergy that would benefit from targeted prevention strategies. Identifying early life signs of children at risk through SUNBEAM monitoring could help implement routine prevention strategies and enable the detection of new ones. “

Anthony S. Fauci, MD, Director, National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases

At 12 sites across the country, the SUNBEAM inspection team will register at least 2,500 pregnant women; the biological father, if possible; and their child, which will be followed from birth to the age of 3 years. Unlike previous allergy studies, families will be enrolled regardless of whether they have known risk factors for allergic disease.

Participating families will provide biological samples and samples from their home environment during and between study visits. They will also complete questionnaires about health history, allergies, diet, infant feeding habits, home environment, sociodemographic characteristics (such as race, ethnicity and language) and mental health. Children are periodically assessed for eczema and food allergies.

The SUNBEAM study team will examine the roles and interactions of clinical, environmental, biological, and genetic factors in the development of allergic diseases. This is now possible thanks to new approaches in systems biology and recent major technological advances in the ability to study biological pathways and immune responses.

Systems biology is an interdisciplinary approach to integrating large amounts of data from a number of biological systems to better understand biological wonder. The biological pathway is a series of reactions among cell molecules that lead to a specific product or change in a cell, tissue or organ, such as a new molecular accumulation or a mutation in a gene.

The SUNBEAM study was led by the NIAID Consortium of Food Allergy Research and is led by protocol chair Corinne A. Keet, MD, Ph.D., and co-chair of the protocol Scott H. Sicherer, MD Dr. Keet is an associate professor. of paediatricians at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Dr. Sicherer is director of the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Institute of Food Allergy and Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe professor of allergy and immunology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. The NIAID-funded Atopic Dermatitis Research Network and the NIAID-funded Atopic Dermatitis Tolerance Network support SUNBEAM and biorepository monitoring sites.