(From left) Jeff Wilson MD, PhD, University of Virginia, and Corinne Keet, MD, PhD, University of North Carolina
Jeff Wilson MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the UVA Department of Medicine Division of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology, and Corinne Keet, MD, PhD, from the University of North Carolina, were awarded a $4.1 million multi-PI grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study common food allergens and their potential association with cardiovascular disease.
Food allergies that result in allergic symptoms, such as hives, swelling or anaphylaxis, are relatively uncommon in adults. However, nearly 1 in 5 adults are ‘silently’ producing IgE antibodies to food allergens without showing any overt symptoms. Recent work by Dr. Wilson and colleagues discovered a previously unrecognized link between IgE antibodies to cow’s milk and other common food allergens and an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. This association was found by measuring antibodies in banked blood samples from over 5,000 adults who were followed longitudinally for about 15 years. The strength of the relationship with cardiovascular mortality was similar to well known risk factors for heart disease, including smoking, diabetes and hypertension and was most pronounced in those who ate the foods that were targeted by their IgE antibodies. The finding suggests an opportunity for precision nutritional prevention of cardiovascular disease and was recently covered by 125 new outlets, including U.S. News and World Report.
The new NIH funding allocates $1.7 million of the award to support Dr. Wilson’s work at UVA as he takes the next critical steps to understanding the relationship between food specific IgE and atherosclerotic plaque resulting in cardiovascular disease. Dr. Wilson’s research is also supported by a UVA Strategic Investment Fund Prominence to Preeminence Award: Immunology, Imaging and Informatics for Precision ImmunoMedicine (iPRIME), which provides investigators an ecosystem of support personnel — from the clinical side of consenting patients and reading complex imaging to banking the high-quality samples at the bench. Over 600 samples from the Coronary Assesssment in VA (CAVA) cohort will be used to examine the relationship between IgE to food allergens and atherosclerotic plaque.
Additional UVA collaborators on this project include Coleen McNamara, MD, Todd Villines, MD, Ani Manichaikul, PhD, and Thomas Platts-Mills, MD.
Filed Under: Research