A systematic review of food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome from the last 40 years

Monoclonal Antibodies in Treating Food Allergy: A New Therapeutic Horizon

Food allergy (FA) is a pathological immune response, potentially deadly, induced by exposure to an innocuous and specific food allergen. To date, there is no specific treatment for FAs; thus, dietary avoidance and symptomatic medications represent the standard treatment for managing them. Recently, several therapeutic strategies for FAs, such as sublingual and epicutaneous immunotherapy and monoclonal antibodies, have shown long-term safety and benefits in clinical practice. This review summarizes the current evidence on changes in treating FA, focusing on monoclonal antibodies, which have recently provided encouraging data as therapeutic weapons modifying the disease course.

Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome

Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) is a non-IgE-mediated food allergy that manifests with projectile, repetitive emesis that can be followed by diarrhea and may be accompanied by lethargy, hypotonia, hypothermia, hypotension, and metabolic derangements. FPIES usually starts in infancy although onset at older ages is being increasingly recognized. FPIES is not rare, with the cumulative incidence of FPIES in infants estimated to be 0.015% to 0.7%, whereas the population prevalence in the US infants was 0.51%. FPIES diagnosis is challenging and might be missed because of later (1-4 hours) onset of symptoms after food ingestion, lack of typical allergic skin and respiratory symptoms, and food triggers that are perceived to be hypoallergenic. Diagnosis is based on the recognition of symptoms because there are no biomarkers of FPIES. The pathophysiology remains obscure although activation of the innate immune compartment has been detected. Management relies of avoidance of food triggers, treatment of accidental exposures, and periodic re-evaluations with supervised oral food challenges to monitor for resolution. There are no strategies to accelerate development of tolerance in FPIES. Here we review the most important current concepts in epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of FPIES.

'Diagnosing food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome'

Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome is still a mysterious disease, pathogenically poorly characterized, although the first FPIES case has been described in 1967. Mainly, food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome diagnosis is based on clinical history. The oral food challenge remains the gold standard to confirm the diagnosis, especially in particular situations. Although there are no diagnostic laboratory or imaging tests which are specific for diagnosis, they could, however, sometimes be helpful to rule out clinical conditions which are similar to food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome reactions. The purpose of this review is to define the clinical features of FPIES and to summarize the current available tools for the diagnosis of FPIES. This review is intended to be a practical guide for the clinician facing a patient with food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome avoiding delayed diagnosis with unnecessary laboratory tests and detrimental treatments. Moreover, it highlights the unmet needs in diagnosis that require urgent attention from the scientific community to improve the management of patients with FPIES.