Chinese Herbal Formula FAHF-2 for peanut allergy?

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Reported through various news services:

 

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Treatment of peanut

allergic mice with the Chinese herbal formula known as

FAHF-2 completely blocks peanut-induced allergic

reactions for up to 6 months following therapy and

full protection is restored following a second course

of FAHF-2, investigators report.

 

January 2005 (American Academy of Allergy Asthma &

Immunology)

The Chinese herbal medicine formula, FAHF-2

completely blocks anaphylactic reactions

in a murine model of peanut allergy

In 2001, Dr Xiu-Min Li and colleagues in the

Department of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at the

Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York City

reported that treatment with a Chinese herbal formula

completely prevented allergic reactions in peanut

allergic mice. These findings created much interest

because, at this time, there is no satisfactory

treatment for human peanut allergy, a frequently fatal

disorder of the immune system, which increased in

incidence by 100% between 1997 and 2002. The

beneficial effects of the herbal treatment were

attributed to suppression of the Th2 lymphocyte

responses to peanut proteins, and to reduced amounts

of anti-peanut IgE antibody in the blood. With grants

from the Food Allergy Initiative, the Dugan Family

Foundation, and National Institutes of Health, Dr. Li

and colleagues continued their research. Recently

Srivastava et al reported in The Chinese Herbal

Medicine Formula, FAHF-2 Completely Blocks

Anaphylactic Reactions in a Murine Model of Peanut

Allergy published in the Journal of Allergy and

Clinical Immunology that a simplified formula, from

which 2 herbs with potential for toxic side effects

has been eliminated, is equally effective, and that

the protective effects of treatment persist for at

least five weeks after treatment is discontinued.

Srivastava et al also reported that FAHF-2 has no

obvious toxicity, even at doses well above the

therapeutically effective dose. If the same results

are found in humans, FAHF-2 may provide a treatment

for persons with peanut allergy.