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The Immune Tolerance Network’s (ITN’s) IMPACT Study, “Oral Immunotherapy for Induction of Tolerance and Desensitization in Peanut-Allergic Children,” opened for enrollment today. This will be the first major study to examine whether oral immunotherapy can lead to durable, lasting tolerance to peanut among young peanut-allergic children. This study will be led by ITN investigator Wesley Burks, MD, Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at UNC Chapel Hill.

Primary results from the Immune Tolerance Network’s AbATE study (Autoimmunity-Blocking Antibody for Tolerance in Recently Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes) were published online today in Diabetes. The Phase II AbATE study, led by Kevan Herold, MD (Yale University), tested two doses of anti-CD3 given one year apart in new onset type 1 diabetics compared to control.

In a letter published recently in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) investigators describe the experience of the ITN’s GPAC study (Immunoprophylaxis of Allergic Disease) that aimed to test whether early intervention with a form of oral immunotherapy in at-risk young children could prevent the development of asthma.

Data from three ITN type 1 diabetes trials will be featured during the “Clinical Trials of T Cell Therapeutics for Reversing Type 1 Diabetes” session at the Annual American Diabetes Association (ADA) Scientific Sessions in Chicago, IL. This session will take place on June 22 from 8:00am-10:00am CT.

In a manuscript published this week in Arthritis & Rheumatism, Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) investigators sought to better understand the distinction between patients who did and did not achieve the primary endpoint in the RAVE Study (Rituximab for the Treatment of ANCA-Associated Vasculitis and Microscopic Polyangiitis).

Sandy Feng, MD, PhD (University of California, San Francisco) will present 5-year follow-up data on tolerant patients from the Immune Tolerance Network’s (ITN’s) WISP-R study, “Withdrawal of Immunosuppression in Pediatric Liver Transplant Recipients” next week at the annual American Transplant Congress (ATC) meeting in Seattle, WA.

A letter published today in the New England Journal of Medicine reports on the long-term outcomes of patients from two ITN-sponsored combined kidney and bone marrow transplantation studies led by David H. Sachs, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital), Tatsuo Kawai, MD, PhD (Massachusetts General Hospital), Megan Sykes, MD (Columbia University) and A. Benedict Cosimi, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital).

The quantification of mature T cell subsets is an important prognostic marker for understanding disease. Killer T cells and Helper T cells, characterized by the expression of cell surface marker proteins CD8 or CD4, respectively, effect different aspects of the adaptive immune system, and the ratio of these two populations can reveal important information about the state of the immune system.

Three abstracts from the ITN’s RAVE study (Rituximab for the Treatment of ANCA-Associated Vasculitis and Microscopic Polyangiitis) led by John Stone, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital) and Ulrich Specks, MD (Mayo Clinic) were presented this week by the RAVE team at the 16^th International Vasculitis & ANCA Workshop in Paris, France. These abstracts include: