Investigating T follicular cell numbers and neuritin levels in patients with food allergy

2021 Kohen and Sage Richards Food Allergy Research Grant

A/Professor Katrina Randall, The Canberra Hospital / ANU Medical School

This research will look at novel markers of allergic disease in the blood.

Allergy, its diagnosis and overcoming current limitations in testing and knowledge gaps in the field, are central to this project.

This project will look at novel markers of allergic disease in the blood to determine if doctors can differentiate patients with non-clinically significant allergy antibodies from those whose allergy antibodies would lead to allergic reactions.

It will look in the blood in both B and T cells for the levels of a recently described protein, neuritin, which has been shown to be an important regulatory factor in the immune system for controlling development of allergy antibodies.

These biomarkers are likely to become important in the future assessment and diagnosis of allergy, and help overcome some of the current disadvantages with allergy tests.

The Kohen and Sage Richards Food Allergy Research Grant of $12,000 was awarded thanks to a fundraising effort in the Arrarat community in Victoria.