Comment
Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Drug would be the first known treatment to prevent anaphylaxis For someone with a food or drug allergy, the risk of life-threatening anaphylactic shock lurks around every corner. A new Northwestern Medicine study shows there might be a pill that can be taken proactively to prevent mild to life-threatening anaphylaxis, no matter the cause. Anaphylaxis is a severe, potentially life-threatening systemic allergic reaction that can occur within seconds or minutes of exposure to an allergen. It occurs in about one in 50 Americans, though many believe the rate is higher (closer to one in 20), according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. If a person’s blood pressure drops so low during anaphylaxis or their airway closes up enough that they can’t get enough oxygen to their organs, they enter anaphylactic shock.How do the drugs stop an allergic reaction before it begins?The drugs used in the study are known as BTK inhibitors. BTK stands for an enzyme called Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, which is found inside cells, including mast cells. The reason BTK inhibitors work to block allergic reactions is that by inhibiting, or blocking, the BTK enzyme, the mast cells cannot be triggered by allergens and allergic antibody to release histamine and other allergic mediators. This pill could quite literally be life-changing and life-saving” Dr. Bruce BochnerThe Samuel M. Feinberg Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine The study used three different BTK inhibitors, which blocked allergic reactions when tested on human mast cells in a
Add Comment