29 January 2014
Last updated at 21:01 ET
The 85 children had to eat peanut protein every day - initially in small doses, but ramped up during the study.
The findings, published in the Lancet, suggest 84% of allergic children could eat the equivalent of five peanuts a day after six months.
Experts have warned that the therapy is not yet ready for widespread use.
Peanuts are the most common cause of fatal allergic reactions to food.
Build up
Peanut allergy treatment 'a success'
Catherine Tooley and her daughter Elizabeth on their part in the study
Doctors
say a potential treatment for peanut allergy has transformed the lives
of children taking part in a large clinical trial.
The findings, published in the Lancet, suggest 84% of allergic children could eat the equivalent of five peanuts a day after six months.
Experts have warned that the therapy is not yet ready for widespread use.
Peanuts are the most common cause of fatal allergic reactions to food.
Continue reading the main story
Lena Barden Age 11"The trial has been an experience and adventure that has changed my life and I've had so much fun, but I still hate peanuts”
There is no treatment so the
only option for patients is to avoid them completely, leading to a
lifetime of checking every food label before a meal.
The trial, at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, tried to train the children's immune systems to tolerate peanut protein.
Every day they were given a peanut protein powder - starting off on a dose equivalent to one 70th of a peanut.
Once a fortnight the dose was increased while the children were in hospital and then they continued taking the higher dose at home.
The majority of patients learned to tolerate the peanut.
Lena Barden, 11, from Histon in Cambridgeshire, said: "It meant a trip to the hospital every two weeks.
"The trial has been an experience and adventure that has changed my life and I've had so much fun, but I still hate peanuts!"
Dramatic Transformation
Every day they were given a peanut protein powder - starting off on a dose equivalent to one 70th of a peanut.
Once a fortnight the dose was increased while the children were in hospital and then they continued taking the higher dose at home.
The majority of patients learned to tolerate the peanut.
Lena Barden, 11, from Histon in Cambridgeshire, said: "It meant a trip to the hospital every two weeks.
Continue reading the main story
Dr Pamela Ewan Cambridge University Hospitals"This large study is the first of its kind in the world to have had such a positive outcome, and is an important advance in peanut allergy research”
"A year later I could eat five whole peanuts with no reaction at all.
Dramatic Transformation
One of the researchers, Dr Andrew Clark, told the BBC: "It
really transformed their lives dramatically; this really comes across
during the trial.
"It's a potential treatment and the next step is to make it available to patients, but there will be significant costs in providing the treatment - in the specialist centres and staff and producing the peanut to a sufficiently high standard."
Fellow researcher Dr Pamela Ewan added: "This large study is the first of its kind in the world to have had such a positive outcome, and is an important advance in peanut allergy research."
But she said further studies would be needed and that people should not try this on their own as this "should only be done by medical professionals in specialist settings".
The research has been broadly welcomed by other researchers in the field, but some concerns about how any therapy could be introduced have been raised.
Caution
"It's a potential treatment and the next step is to make it available to patients, but there will be significant costs in providing the treatment - in the specialist centres and staff and producing the peanut to a sufficiently high standard."
Fellow researcher Dr Pamela Ewan added: "This large study is the first of its kind in the world to have had such a positive outcome, and is an important advance in peanut allergy research."
But she said further studies would be needed and that people should not try this on their own as this "should only be done by medical professionals in specialist settings".
The research has been broadly welcomed by other researchers in the field, but some concerns about how any therapy could be introduced have been raised.
Caution
Prof Gideon Lack, who is running a peanut allergy trial at the
Evelina Children's Hospital in London, told the BBC: "This is a really
important research step in trying to improve our management of peanut
allergy, but is not yet ready for use in clinical practice.
"We need a proper risk assessment needs to be done to ensure we will not make life more dangerous for these children.
He warned that 60% of people with a peanut allergy were also
allergic to other nuts so a carefree lifestyle would rarely be an
option.
Prof Barry Kay, from the department of allergy and clinical immunology at Imperial College London, said: "The real issues that still remain include how long the results will last, and whether the positive effects might lead affected individuals to have a false sense of security.
"Another issue to address is whether there will be long term side-effects of repeated peanut exposure even where full allergic reaction does not occur, such as inflammation of the oesophagus.
"So, this study shows encouraging results that add to the current literature, but more studies are needed to pin down these issues before the current advice to peanut allergy sufferers, which is to avoid eating peanuts, is changed."
Maureen Jenkins, director of Clinical Services at Allergy UK, said: "The fantastic results of this study exceed expectation.
"Peanut allergy is a particularly frightening food allergy, causing constant anxiety of a reaction from peanut traces.
"This is a major step forward in the global quest to manage it."
"We need a proper risk assessment needs to be done to ensure we will not make life more dangerous for these children.
How to spot potentially life-threatening allergic reactions and how to deal with them
Prof Barry Kay, from the department of allergy and clinical immunology at Imperial College London, said: "The real issues that still remain include how long the results will last, and whether the positive effects might lead affected individuals to have a false sense of security.
"Another issue to address is whether there will be long term side-effects of repeated peanut exposure even where full allergic reaction does not occur, such as inflammation of the oesophagus.
"So, this study shows encouraging results that add to the current literature, but more studies are needed to pin down these issues before the current advice to peanut allergy sufferers, which is to avoid eating peanuts, is changed."
Maureen Jenkins, director of Clinical Services at Allergy UK, said: "The fantastic results of this study exceed expectation.
"Peanut allergy is a particularly frightening food allergy, causing constant anxiety of a reaction from peanut traces.
"This is a major step forward in the global quest to manage it."
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