Recent breakthroughs in allergy

Protecting babies from allergic diseases before they are born

The Children's Research Centre and its collaborators at the University of Western Australia have together uncovered a new way of predicting the likelihood of a child developing an allergic disease at birth. A protein called kinase C zeta in the immune cells of newborns appears to hold the answer: depending on the levels of this protein present in a baby's immune system, he/she will either be protected or susceptible to the development of allergies as a child. Before this discovery, the only way to test a child's predisposition for allergies was by examining the family's clinical history or measuring the allergy-inducing antibody, IgE. This new test is considered to be a much more effective indicator of a child's allergy risk. In addition, further trials undertaken by members of the Children's Research Centre have shown that certain fish oils produce a favourable amount of the kinase C zeta protein in a baby's system if taken during pregnancy.

Predicting allergic reactions to vaccines

The Children's Research Centre is the first in Australia to link the Australian Immunisation Childhood Register to paediatric admissions in South Australia, in an attempt to better track the history of vaccine reactions in South Australian infants. By amalgamating these two large databases in a process known as "data linkage", doctors have access to every child's vaccine records, no matter where immunisation took place, and can better predict the likelihood of allergic reactions or identify vaccines that are causing adverse symptoms in children of a particular age, gender, race or medical status. The long term goal of the Children's Research Centre is to link the vaccine data from every immunised child to all paediatric admissions through Australia. Researchers in the vaccine safety team are currently investigating the feasibility of such an initiative, and the ethical, legal and social implications of national vaccine data linkage.