Red Meat Allergy

Allergic responses to common foods such as dairy and peanuts can increase the risk for heart disease and cardiovascular death as much or more than smoking, new research suggests. And these dangerous allergic responses can strike both people with food allergies and those with no obvious allergy symptoms. Sensitivity to common food allergens such as dairy and peanuts could be an important and previously unappreciated cause of heart disease, new research suggests -- and the increased risk for cardiovascular death includes people without obvious food allergies. That increased risk could be comparable to -- or exceed -- the risks posed by smoking, as well as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, the researchers report. UVA Health scientists and their collaborators looked at thousands of adults over time and found that people who produced antibodies in response to dairy and other foods were at elevated risk of cardiovascular-related death. This was true even when traditional risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes, were taken into account. The strongest link was for cow's milk, but other allergens such as peanut and shrimp were also significant. The troubling finding represents the first time that "IgE" antibodies to common foods have been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular mortality, the researchers report. The findings do not conclusively prove that food antibodies are causing the increased risk, but the work builds on prior studies connecting allergic inflammation and heart disease. Approximately 15% of adults produce IgE antibodies in response to cow's milk, peanuts and other foods. While these antibodies cause some people to have severe food allergies, many adults who make these antibodies have no obvious food allergy. The new research found that the strongest link with cardiovascular death was in people who had the antibodies but continued to consume the food regularly -- suggesting they didn't have a severe food allergy. "What we looked at here was the presence of IgE antibodies to food that were detected in blood samples," said researcher Jeffrey Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., an allergy and immunology expert at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. "We don't think most of these subjects actually had overt food allergy, thus our story is more about an otherwise silent immune response to food. While these responses may not be strong enough to cause acute allergic reactions to food, they might nonetheless cause inflammation and over time lead to problems like heart disease." Unexpected Food Allergy Findings The researchers were inspired to investigate the possibility that common food allergies could be harming the heart after members of the UVA team previously linked an unusual form of food allergy spread by ticks to heart disease. That allergy, first identified by UVA's Thomas Platts-Mills, M.D., Ph.D., is transmitted by the bite of the lone star tick, found throughout much of the country. The allergy -- commonly if inaccurately called the "red meat allergy" -- sensitizes people to a particular sugar, alpha-gal, found in mammalian meat. The symptomatic form of the allergy, known as "alpha-gal syndrome," can cause hives, upset stomach and breathing difficulties -- even potentially deadly anaphylaxis -- three to eight hours after affected people eat beef or pork. (Poultry and fish don't contain the sugar, so they don't trigger a reaction.) To see if other food allergies could be affecting the heart, a team including Wilson, Platts-Mills and collaborators from UVA, as well as Corinne Keet, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina, reviewed data collected from 5,374 participants in the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) and the Wake Forest site of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Of those people, 285 had died from cardiovascular causes. Among the NHANES participants, IgE antibodies to at least one food was associated with a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular death, the researchers found. This was particularly true for people sensitive to milk, a finding that held true among the MESA participants as well. Additional analysis also identified peanut and shrimp sensitization as significant risk factors for cardiovascular death in those individuals who routinely ate them. "We previously noted a link between allergic antibodies to the alpha-gal red meat allergen and heart disease," Wilson explained. "That finding has been supported by a larger study in Australia, but the current paper suggests that a link between allergic antibodies to food allergens and heart disease is not limited to alpha-gal. In some ways, this is a surprising finding. On the other hand, we are not aware that anyone has looked before." Allergies and the Heart While this is the first time that allergic antibodies to common foods have been linked to cardiovascular mortality, other allergic conditions -- such as asthma and the itchy rash known as eczema or atopic dermatitis -- previously have been identified as risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The researchers speculate that allergic antibodies to food may be affecting the heart by leading to the activation of specialized cells, called mast cells. Mast cells in the skin and gut are known to contribute to classic allergic reactions, but they are also found in the cardiac blood vessels and heart tissue. Persistent activation of mast cells could drive inflammation, contributing to harmful plaque buildup that can cause heart attacks or other heart damage, the researchers believe. The scientists underscore, however, that this is not yet certain. It's possible that other genetic or environmental factors could be at play. It's even possible that cardiovascular disease could increase the risk for food sensitization -- meaning that heart disease could up your risk for food allergies, rather than the other way round -- though the new results suggest this is unlikely. The researchers are calling for further studies to better understand the implications of their finding before recommending any changes in how doctors treat or manage food allergies. "This work raises the possibility that in the future a blood test could help provide personalized information about a heart-healthy diet," Wilson said. "Though before that could be recommended, we still have a lot of work to do understand these findings."

JACKSON, N.J., Oct. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lyme Disease Association Inc. (LDA) will hold its 22nd annual scientific conference, Lyme & Other Tick-Borne Diseases: Research & Clinical Advances 2023, virtually on October 13-14, 2023. LDA and Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons are joint providers of the CME conference designed for medical & health professionals & researchers but open to the general public. Continue Reading Research Education Prevention Patient Support Research Education Prevention Patient Support The conference features faculty including clinicians and researchers from across US. Topics include Lyme & COVID, Cancer Drug May Help Lyme, Psychedelics, Long-Term Lyme Treatments, Lyme Treatment Trials, Pathogens in Post Mortem Tissue, Mast Cell activation, Alpha-gal, Diagnostics, Eye Screening for Lyme, POTS, and Babesia. Speaker & Topic List: Brian Fallon, MD, Columbia University, the Conference Co-Director: Lyme Treatment Trials. Monica Embers, PhD and Liz Horn, PhD, MBI: Identifying Pathogens in Post-Mortem Tissue Through the Lyme Disease Biobank Tissue Pipeline; Lawrence Afrin, MD: Mast Cell Activation Disease; John Aucott, MD: Persistent Symptoms of Lyme Disease; Choukri BenMamoun, PhD: Human babesiosis; Catherine Brissette, PhD: Lyme Neuroborreliosis; Scott P Commins, MD, PhD: Alpha-gal Syndrome, Mast Cells and Tick Bites; Natalie Gukasyan, MD: Psychedelics; Peter J. Gwynne, PhD: B. Burgdorferi Metabolism; Alison Hinckley, PhD: Changes to Surveillance for Lyme Disease — United States, 2022; William V. Padula, OD: Peri-papillary Ischemia as a Potential Screening Biomarker for Early Detection of Tick-Borne Infection; David Putrino, PT, PhD: Long COVID; Peter Rowe, MD: Managing Orthostatic Intolerance; Klemen Strle, PhD: Immunology, Disease Pathogenesis, PTLDS, Paul Trouillas, MD, PhD: Severe forms of Late Neuroborreliosis and of Late Tick-Borne Neurological Disease, Complete Remissions Obtained in These Diseases with Long-Term Treatments Meghan Catherine Lybecker, PhD: Diagnostics; Stephen M. Rich, PhD, Professor of Microbiology: Potential New Lyme Treatment Now Inhibiting Cancer Growth. Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons designates this live activity for a maximum of 13.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. For Details/Registration: About Lyme Disease Association,Inc. (LDA): a national non-profit which funds research, education and patient support has awarded 124 research grants across the US; its supported research has been acknowledged in 62 peer-reviewed journals. LDA has provided 274 educational grants, and organized 22 CME Lyme conferences. LDA's LymeAid 4 Kids fund, initiated in conjunction with internationally acclaimed author Amy Tan, has provided over ~$450,000 to aid children getting a diagnosis and treatment. Media Contact Information: LDA President, Pat Smith, Phone: 888-366-6611 Email: [email protected], SOURCE Lyme Disease Association Inc

NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- After 61 days of observation, NYU Langone Health doctors this month completed the longest-documented case of a genetically engineered pig kidney functioning in a human body. Multimedia Materials Available Continue Reading The NYU Langone Transplant Institute concluded a two-month xenotransplantation study of a pig kidney. Tweet this Robert Montgomery, MD, DPhil, the H. Leon Pachter, MD, Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery and director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, performs the fifth xenotransplant at NYU Langone Health on July 14, 2023. (Joe Carrotta for NYU Langone Health) Multimedia materials, including photos and a B-roll package, are available for download. About the Procedure The procedure, known as a xenotransplant, which involves the transplant of an animal organ into a human, was performed on July 14, 2023, and led by Robert Montgomery, MD, DPhil, the H. Leon Pachter, MD, Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery and director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute. The organ was removed September 13, 2023, from a 58-year-old man who had been on a ventilator, with his family's consent, after being declared dead by neurologic criteria before the xenotransplant. "We have learned a great deal throughout these past two months of close observation and analysis, and there is great reason to be hopeful for the future," said Dr. Montgomery. "None of this would have been possible without the incredible support we received from the family of our deceased recipient. Thanks to them, we have been able to gain critical insight into xenotransplantation as a hopeful solution to the national organ shortage." The study was concluded after reaching its predetermined end date, with the decedent removed from the ventilator and his body returned to the family, as per their wishes. The procedure was the fifth xenotransplant performed by the Transplant Institute since Dr. Montgomery performed the world's first genetically modified pig kidney transplant into a human on September 25, 2021. That was followed by a second similar procedure on November 22, 2021. Surgeons at NYU Langone then performed two genetically engineered pig heart transplants in summer 2022. The kidney used in this procedure was procured from what is known as a GalSafe pig, an animal engineered by Revivicor Inc., a subsidiary of United Therapeutics Corporation. In December 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the GalSafe pig as a potential source for human therapeutics, as well as a food source for people with alpha-gal syndrome, a meat allergy caused by a tick bite. By "knocking out" the single gene that encodes the biomolecule known as alpha-gal—which has been identified as responsible for a rapid antibody-mediated rejection of pig organs by humans—immediate rejection has been avoided in all five xenotransplants at NYU Langone. Additionally, the pig's thymus gland, which is responsible for educating the immune system, was fused with the pig kidney to stave off novel, delayed immune responses. While previous genetically engineered pig organ transplants have incorporated up to 10 genetic modifications, this latest study shows that a single-gene knockout pig kidney can perform optimally after two months. Novel Findings and Next Steps Tissue collected during the study indicated some novel cellular changes that surgeons had not previously observed, indicating a mild rejection process that required intensifying immunosuppression medication in order to reverse it completely. The research team will now pour over data collected from the past two months and conduct additional tests to determine cellular and molecular changes that may inform clinicians on how to manage these organs in future studies—and one day in living humans. In the United States, there are more than 103,000 people on the waiting list for a transplant, with nearly 88,000 of those waiting for a kidney, according to recent federal Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) data. In 2022, about 26,000 people received a kidney transplant. Meanwhile, nearly 808,000 people in the United States have end-stage kidney disease. "In order to create a sustainable unlimited supply of organs, we need to know how to manage pig organs transplanted into humans," said Dr. Montgomery. "Testing them in a decedent allows us to optimize the immunosuppression regimen and choice of gene edits without putting a living patient at risk." Dr. Montgomery expects to publish more detailed findings in the coming months, while pursuing additional xenotransplantation studies in decedents to make future clinical trials safer. About the NYU Langone Transplant Institute The Transplant Institute offers the highest-quality kidney and lung transplantation programs in the nation, according to July 2023 federal quality data, while the heart and liver transplant programs hold the highest organ survival rates in New York. In 2022, the institute performed 600 organ transplants. This is more than any other hospital in New York State, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. NYU Langone's heart, kidney, liver, lung, and pancreas transplant programs are approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS), which means they have met the stringent volume, process, quality, and survival outcome requirements of CMS regulation. GalSafe is a trademark of Revivicor Inc. Media Inquiries Colin DeVries Phone: 212-404-3588 [email protected] SOURCE NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Langone Health