食物アレルギーは治癒可能？
(C) flickr & Carol Esther
ピーナッツアレルギーは食物アレルギーのうち最も一般的なもののひとつで，微量のピーナッツでも生命にかかわる反応が起こることがある。このアレルギーをもつ子供を対象とした新たな研究では，ピーナッツをごく微量から徐々に量を増やして食べさせていったところ，アレルギーをなくすことができたという。研究では33人の子供にピーナッツを1,000分の1個から与え始めたが，6カ月後には毎日最高15個を食べられるようになり，うち4人は治療をやめても反応が起こらなくなった。他の食物にも応用できそうだが，研究者らは自己流で試さないよう警告している。（吉田素子）
A carefully administered(1) daily dose(2) of peanuts has been so successful as a therapy(3) for peanut allergies(4) that a select group of children is now off treatment(5) and eating peanuts daily, report doctors at Duke University Medical Center and Arkansas Children's Hospital.
"It appears these children have lost their allergies," says Wesley Burks, MD, Chief of the Division of Pediatric(6) Allergy and Immunology(7) at Duke.
"This gives other parents and children hope that we'll soon have a safe, effective treatment that will halt(8) allergies to certain foods."
Long-term(9) tolerance(10) in children with peanut allergies was documented for the first time by the presence of key immunologic(11) changes, according to(12) researchers(13) at Duke and Arkansas Children's Hospital who presented their findings at the American Academy(14) of Asthma(15) and Immunology meeting in Washington, DC today.
Tests of several immunologic indicators(16) suggest the body builds tolerance quickly.
"At the start of the study, these participants(17) couldn't tolerate one-sixth(18) of a peanut," Burks said. "Six months into it, they were ingesting(19) 13 to 15 peanuts before they had a reaction."
About four million Americans have food allergies(20), and allergies to tree nuts, such as peanuts, are the most common. Life-threatening(21) reactions can occur from exposure to(22) even a trace amount of(23) peanuts, and nearly half of the 150 deaths attributed to(24) food allergies each year are caused by peanut allergies.
Duke and Arkansas Children's Hospital began enrolling(25) patients in studies five years ago to determine if incremental(26) doses of peanut protein(27) could change how the body's immune system(28) responds to its presence.
(1) 投与された (2) 投与（量） (3) 治療法 (4) アレルギー (5) 治療を受けていない (6) 小児の
(7) 免疫学 (8) 差し止める (9) 長期の (10) 耐性 (11) 免疫学的 (12) ～によると (13) 研究者
(14) 学会（“American Academy of Asthma and Immunology”は学会名） (15) 喘息 (16) 指標
(17) 参加者 (18) 6分の1 (19) 摂取している (20) 食物アレルギー (21) 生命にかかわる
(22) ～への曝露 (23) 微量の (24) ～が原因の (25) 登録すること (26) 徐々に増加する
(27) タンパク質 (28) 免疫機構
