TRACE mechanistic assessments
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mechanisms underlying the change in threshold or severity of peanut allergic reaction in TRACE peanut study participants
IRAS ID
172382
Contact name
Paul Turner
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Food allergy affects up to 2% of adults and 8% of children in the UK. It is the commonest cause of life-threatening allergic reactions, and significantly impairs quality of life due to anxiety over the potential for severe reactions (anaphylaxis) and the practicalities of allergen avoidance. Little is known about what actually happens during a food-allergic reaction, and why some people experience only mild symtpoms to large doses of food allergen, while others can have fatal anaphylaxis to tiny amounts.
The work proposed in this application takes full advantage of an existing study which assesses the amount of peanut needed to trigger a reaction in peanut allergic adults (Threshold Reaction and Clinical Evaluation (TRACE) Peanut Study). TRACE involves repeated food challenges of peanut-allergic adults under strict medical supervision. The trial (Clinical Trials.Gov number: NCT01429896) has been commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to determine the threshold or “Minimum Eliciting Dose” required to trigger a reaction in peanut-allergic adults, and how this is affected by exercise and sleep deprivation.
We plan to study these allergic reactions in more detail, using a range of non-invasive testing and collection of biological samples, to learn more about the processes causing symptoms during food allergic reactions and how these vary between individuals.
REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0286
Date of REC Opinion
3 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion