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The IMPACT trial – a double blind randomized placebo controlled study – was designed to test whether young, peanut allergic children (12-48 months) could be desensitized with peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT) and ultimately remain non-responsive to peanut after discontinuation of OIT.

The EXTEND trial was a double blind randomized placebo controlled study designed to test the effect of IL-6 receptor blockade (tocilizumab) in pediatric participants (age 6-17 years) with new onset type 1 diabetes.  IL-6 pathway blockade is an effective immunotherapy in some autoimmune diseases including juvenile idiopathic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis working, at least in part, by decreasing Th17 and increasing Treg cell frequencies.  In a paper published in JCI Insight, the study team reported that while the drug impaired IL-6 signaling in T-cells, treatment did not alter T-cell subsets and did not slow the loss of the residual beta cell function in the study participants.

Christian P. Larsen, MD, DPhil, the Immune Tolerance Network’s (ITN’s) deputy director in transplantation, transplant surgeon, and immunologist was presented with the 2021 American Medical Association (AMA) Scientific Achievement Award.

The PAUSE trial was conducted to determine whether blocking CD28/B7 costimulatory signaling with abatacept would prevent relapse of psoriasis after effective treatment with ustekinumab (an IL12/23 antagonist). In an article published in JAMA Dermatology, the study team showed that relapse following ustekinumab discontinuation was not delayed by abatacept treatment, and was associated with a pathogenic IL-23-mediated molecular signature in skin lesions, which was unaffected by blockade of the CD28-CD80/86 costimulation pathway.

In an article published today in Frontiers in Immunology, Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) leadership and clinical trial physicians review ITN's approach to the development of therapies that aim to establish tolerance in immune mediated diseases. They present concepts that have evolved from the ITN's clinical trial experience, with an emphasis on lessons learned from the mechanistic studies conducted as a part of these trials and strategies under development for the induction of tolerance.

In a study published on April 22, 2020 in JACI, data from ITN’s CATEEC clinical trial was used to investigate the connection between asthma and allergic disease and the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19). The virus that leads to COVID-19, which has caused a global pandemic, uses the cell receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme-1 (ACE2) to enter human cells and cause infection. Interestingly, while several underlying respiratory conditions have been identified as risk factors for developing COVID-19 illness, asthma and allergy has been unexpectedly underrepresented in early epidemiologic studies of severe COVID-19 illnesses. The authors of this manuscript utilized three recent allergy and asthma studies to determine whether ACE2 expression differs in those with allergy and asthma.

The ITN article that reported the results of the CATEEC clinical trial, which compared clinical and biological responses to cat allergen exposure by nasal allergen challenge (NAC) or environmental exposure chamber (EEC) was selected to be an Editors’ Choice feature and was displayed on the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) website.

The first patient first visit (FPFV) has occurred for ITN’s REBOOT clinical trial. REBOOT is a clinical study that aims to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of belimumab and intravenous rituximab at inducing remission of primary membranous nephropathy (MN) compared to rituximab alone.

The Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) has opened the BEAT-MS clinical trial for enrollment. BEAT-MS or “Best Available Therapy vs. Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (AHSCT) for MS” will investigate high dose immunosuppression followed by AHSCT – a type of transplant using a patient’s own immune stem cells – compared to the best medical treatment currently available for multiple sclerosis (MS) in participants with relapsing MS.

This week in the article “How to Prevent Food Allergies,” Scientific American discusses the changes over the years to medical advice regarding children and dietary allergens. The article notes the results of the Immune Tolerance Network’s (ITN’s) LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut Allergy) Study that prompted the change in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidance. Current recommendations suggest that high-risk infants should be systematically fed peanut products as early as four to six months of age in order to prevent the development of peanut allergy.