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Nanoparticles are being developed for diverse biomedical applications, but there is concern about potential to promote inflammation, particularly in the lungs.
Peanut allergy is the most common food allergy in Australian school-aged children and is rarely outgrown. Access to oral immunotherapy (OIT), a disease-modifying treatment for food allergy, is limited in many regions of the world, including Australia.
The pivotal phase 3 EPITOPE trial, a 12-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of epicutaneous immunotherapy with the VIASKIN patch containing 250 μg of peanut protein (VP250), previously reported significant treatment response versus placebo in peanut-allergic toddlers aged 1 through 3 years.
Remission is the desired outcome following OIT as it allows individuals to discontinue treatment and eat the allergen freely. Early initiation of OIT in infants and toddlers has been embraced as an approach to increase the likelihood of remission. However, there is no high-quality evidence supporting younger age as an independent factor driving remission; available studies are limited by small samples of younger subjects and lack of adjustment for confounding covariates, particularly peanut-specific IgE (sIgE) levels which is closely cor
Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways, most commonly driven by immuno-inflammatory responses to ubiquitous airborne antigens.
The hallmark of atopic asthma is transient airways hyperresponsiveness (AHR) preceded by aeroallergen-induced Th-cell activation.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is characterized by permanent scarring of lung tissue and declining lung function, and is an incurable disease with increase in prevalence over the past decade.
Food allergy is a major public health challenge in Australia. Despite widespread uptake of infant feeding and allergy prevention guidelines the incidence of peanut allergy in infants has not fallen, and prevalence of peanut allergy in school-aged children continues to rise. Therefore, effective and accessible treatments for peanut allergy are required.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes annual epidemics of infections affecting the whole population. In vitro, it has been shown to infect and persist in human dendritic cells (DCs) for prolonged periods. Initially persistence is associated with low levels of replication before the virus becomes dormant. Reactivation of viral replication can be triggered many months later.
Appropriate innate immune function is essential to limit pathogenesis and severity of severe lower respiratory infections (sLRI) during infancy, a leading cause of hospitalization and risk factor for subsequent asthma in this age group.