Hello Again!

Long Time No See!

I’ve Returned!
Introduction:
 Who Am I?
● Hello again! I’m Diana Oh!
● I am a current Junior, soon to be senior
● I am enrolled in the Independent Research Program
● I have spent a year researching food allergies
 Why Am I Here?

● To share my final research

● To tell you about my journey
● To share what I learned about
research and allergies
 The Agenda
1. Introduction
a. Review/Background
2. Research
a. The Paper
b. Data Collection
3. Overall Experience
a. Evolution of Research
4. Questions?
Review and Background
 What is an Allergy?
● An immune response to a normally non
harmful substance
● A result of both genetic and
environmental factors
● Generally treated with antihistamines
and epinephrine
http://drrajivdesaimd.com/2013/05/01/allergy/
 What is IgE?
● Known as “Immunoglobulin E”
● It is a specific type of antibody
● Set off other pathways, which cause
different reactions
● Generally treated with antihistamines
and epinephrine
 What did I Research?
Oral Immunotherapy
● A upcoming treatment for food allergies
● Builds “tolerance” against specific
antigens
● Still in a research stage and clinical
trials
http://med.stanford.edu/allergyandasthma/clinical-trials.html
 Oral Immunotherapy
● Feed the patient the allergen in doses over long
periods of time
● Similar to vaccination- exposing the immune system
to the “enemy”
● Considered high risk, due to the procedures
Research Process
 Why does it matter?
● The amount of people with food allergies is increasing
exponentially- the reason is unknown
● There are three option: prevention, cure, and treatment
○ The first two are unavailable to a treatment is the
best, and only option as of now.
 My Research
My Question:
● Is OIT an ethical and effective solution for IgE mediated
food allergies?

My Hypothesis:
● OIT is an effective solution as past, current, and future
prospects
 Past Discoveries
● Achieve Desentization - Many children were able to
consume more of the antigen without reacting
● However, the allergy did return if the antigen was not
reintroduced periodically.
● Is successful in different food antigens, especially in
peanuts, milk, and eggs
 Current Studies
● Needs to transition into clinical setting rather than labs
○ Improve efficiency and effectivity by modifying the
procedures.
○ Set procedures in order to guarantee results
● Ensure safety above all else
● Use of supplemental medications to reduce reactions
○ Omalizumab, reduces IgE in the immune system
 Future Studies
● Perfect the treatment in order to find the mechanism
● Achieve complete tolerance- the allergy is
permanently cured, the patient can eat any amount of
antigen
● Assessing long term effects
 Data Collection
My Questions:
● Do clinical studies show that OIT is effective and ethical?
● What aspects of the procedures differ and what is similar?
● How do the results differ?
● Is there a correlation between the result and procedures?
 What did I do?
● Compared 3 different peanut OIT studies
● Observed eligibility, updosing, placebo, drop out rates and
homedosing
● Examined the purpose of each study
 So to Summarize...
● Eligibility- personal safety in attempting OIT
● Updosing- the treatment’s efficiency and patient safety
● Placebo- the accuracy and validity of the studies
● Drop out rate- the individual risk of the treatment
● Homedosing-the efficiency and efficacy of OIT
 Conclusion
● Data collection supported my research paper
● Both find that OIT is an effective and ethical treatment
● However, there are still many holes in the treatment, so
it is not ready for public use.
My Experience
 Evolution of Research
● Started with the cause of allergies: how are they formed
● Moved into why are there more people with allergies
● Looked at food allergies in particular
● Then looked at treatments
● Then looked at immunotherapy
● Ended at oral immunotherapy
 Evolution of Research
● Started at what is OIT
● Moved into what are the methods
and results
● Then looked at efficacy and
ethicacy
● Looked at different studies for
consistency
● Still continuing to look at studies
for comparisons
 What I learned?
● It's a long process- Don’t rush things!
● You will NOT get results you expect
● Don’t be afraid to change your goals and focus
● It is about the journey not the destination!
Questions?