Research Interests
Developing Novel Therapeutic Formulations for the Treatment of Peanut Allergy
Every 1 out of 10 adults and 1 out of 13 children in the United States is allergic to dietary antigens, and over 40% of individuals allergic to foods, including peanuts, are expected to develop a severe allergic reaction. The current standard of care for food allergies is strict allergen avoidance, and until recently, there was not a therapeutic available to treat allergic disease to peanuts. In 2020, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the first oral immunotherapy regimen to treat peanut allergies. Although effective, oral immunotherapy for peanut allergy requires a daily treatment regimen and may cause adverse reactions due to the high allergen doses required to induce desensitization. Our laboratory is actively investigating strategies to induce protective immunity against peanut allergies by including immune-modulating adjuvants and alternative delivery routes, including sublingual and intranasal delivery, to reduce the severity of peanut allergies. The development of adjuvanted peanut-specific immunotherapy formulations that are safe and effective when applied to alternative mucosal surfaces may reduce the time and allergen dose required to protect against allergic reactions. This ongoing research gives us hope for a future with improved treatment options.
Identifying Environmental Factors that Influence Host Immunity
The incidence of immune-mediated diseases, such as food allergies, and the rate of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as Whooping Cough, is increasing, especially in developed countries like the United States. A shift in vaccine formulation to replace whole-cell antigens with acellular antigens may contribute to the decreased efficacy of the Bordetella pertussis vaccine that prevents Whooping Cough. However, a reduction in microbial stimulation through more hygienic environments and increased exposure to subunit vaccine formulations that do not contain live-attenuated or inactivated pathogens may enhance immune skewing, a process where the immune system is biased towards a Type 2 immune response that induces short-term protective immunity against pathogens and increase susceptibility to Type 2 immune-mediated disorders, such as food allergy. Exogenous environmental factors, including dietary lifestyles, additives, and environmental contaminates, may also influence host responses to current vaccines and allergens. Our laboratory aims to identify environmental exposures that affect the host response to vaccines and allergens. We determined that modifying vaccine formulations with novel immune-modulating adjuvants exerts bystander effects and reduces the severity of allergen-sensitization in preclinical models of peanut allergy. Thus, our research continues to discover additional environmental factors that influence host responses to allergens and vaccines and develop mitigation strategies to reduce the incidence of allergic and vaccine-preventable diseases.