New DII Editorial Focuses on Gut Immune Environment in Peanut Allergies and Oral Immunotherapy

• Molecular and Translational Allergology
• Department of Infection and Immunity

In a new editorial in the journal Allergy, Dr Annette Kuehn and co-author Prof Thomas Eiwegger argue that the gastrointestinal immune system is underappreciated in current models of peanut allergy treatment. They advocate that investigation into gut related immunity could refine strategies for immunotherapy and improve patient outcomes.

This month’s issue of Allergy, the highest-ranking journal in the field of allergy research, features an editorial by Dr Annette Kuehn, Co-Head of the Molecular & Translational Allergology Group in the Department of Infection & Immunity (DII). In “Oral Immunotherapy of Peanut Allergy: A Critical Role for Gut-Associated Immunity”, Dr Kuehn and her co-author Prof Eiwegger, Group Leader of the Clinical Immunology group at Karl-Landsteiner University in Austria, discuss how the gastrointestinal immune system may significantly influence the outcomes of oral immunotherapy (OIT) for peanut allergies.

In this editorial, the authors state that while OIT is one of the most promising approaches to desensitise patients with food allergies, the likelihood of success in any one patient remains inconsistent. They propose that part of this variability may stem from individual differences in a patient’s gut immune environment, including mucosal barrier integrity, immune cell networks and microbiome composition. They suggest that integrating these parameters into clinical research could provide a more holistic understanding of immune tolerance.

When asked about the topic of the editorial, Dr Kuehn said:

We were very happy to be invited by the journal to contribute this perspective because we believe bridging clinical immunotherapy with mechanistic gut immunology is precisely where future developments will emerge.

She added that understanding how the gut immune environment shapes responses to allergen exposure could also help the efficacy and safety of other food allergy therapies.

Dr Kuehn and Prof Eiwegger are close collaborators in the FNR-FWF WEAVE funded project IFAM, which targets the immune mechanisms that trigger clinical food allergies.

Funding and collaborations

Supported by the Luxembourg National Research Fund on WEAVE program grant C23/BM/18096599/IFAM and the Austria Science Fund on WEAVE program grant 10.55776/I6897 and the lower Austrian research fund supported Danube Allergy Research Cluster.