The US National Institutes of Health is providing another $29.9 million for the Consortium of Food Allergy Research (CoFAR) to continue its genetic and other research into the prevention and treatment of food allergy. The Mount Sinai School of Medicine is the primary research site for CoFAR, leading seven other institutions around the US.

Under the renewed grant, researchers will continue several clinical trials evaluating immunotherapies for peanut and egg allergy to determine whether an extract of peanut protein under the tongue or ingesting increasing amounts of egg protein improves tolerance, and the effects of gradually increased doses of peanut protein administered via a suppository. The Mount Sinai team will also be starting a new trial using a peanut protein patch applied to the skin. CoFAR is also conducting an observational study of more than 500 infants to determine what factors worsen or improve their allergies.

The grant will also fund new genetic research on eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases (EGIDs), a new group of allergic diseases the most common of which is eosinophilic esophagitis. The main symptoms in children include nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain after eating.

There will be three new CoFAR trial sites at Cincinnati Children's Medical Center Hospital, University of Colorado at Denver, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia will conduct the research working along with the five original sites: The Mount Sinai Medical Center, Duke University Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University, National Jewish Health in Denver, and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Courtesy of the Mount Sinai Press Office

First published in August 2010

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