Kinetics of basophil hyporesponsiveness during short-course peanut oral immunotherapy

Abstract

Background: Oral immunotherapy (OIT) leads to suppression of mast cell and basophil degranulation along with changes in the adaptive immune response.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine how rapidly these effects occur during OIT and more broadly, the kinetics of basophil and mast cell suppression throughout the course of therapy.

Methods: Twenty participants, age 4 to 12 years, were enrolled in a peanut OIT trial and assessed for desensitization and sustained unresponsiveness after 9 months of therapy. Blood was collected 5 times in the first month and then intermittently throughout to quantify immunoglobulins and assess basophil activation by CD63, CD203c, and phosphorylated SYK (pSYK).

Results: Twelve of 16 participants that completed the trial were desensitized after OIT, with 9 achieving sustained unresponsiveness after discontinuing OIT for 4 weeks. Basophil hyporesponsiveness, defined by lower CD63 expression, was detected as early as day 90. pSYK was correlated with CD63 expression, and there was a significant decrease in pSYK by day 250. CD203c expression remained unchanged throughout therapy. Interestingly, although basophil activation was decreased across the cohort during OIT, basophil activation did not correlate with individual clinical outcomes. Serum peanut-specific IgG₄ and IgA increased throughout therapy, whereas IgE remained unchanged.

Conclusions: Suppression of basophil activation occurs within the first 90 days of peanut OIT, ultimately leading to suppression of signaling through pSYK.

Keywords: Peanut allergy; basophil activation; food allergy; oral immunotherapy; pSYK.