Immune Tolerance Network

The Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) is seeking ‘Proposal Outlines’ for novel clinical trials designed to induce immune tolerance in psoriasis and other autoimmune skin disorders, including those mediated by autoantibodies such as pemphigus and pemphigoid.A special assessment group has been convened by the ITN to consider these proposals.

Three abstracts from ITN studies are being presented at this year's AmericanTransplant Congress in Boston, MA, held May 20-June 3, 2009. UCSF's Sandy Feng will present the preliminary results of her study of immunosuppressionwithdrawal in pediatric liver transplant recipients.

The full cohort of 640 children has now been enrolled in the ITN LEAP study of peanut allergy. The study is being conducted under the direction of principal investigator Gideon Lack, MD at Evelina Children’s Hospital, part of Guys and St Thomas Hospital in London, UK. The study addresses a growing scientific and public health controversy as to whether children at risk of developing peanut allergy can best prevent the condition by regular consumption of peanut or by avoiding it altogether. Results of the long-term study are expected in 2013.