Simple test predicts newborn allergy risk

AUSTRALIAN scientists may have found a way to predict whether a newborn is at risk of developing an allergy.

And it could be as simple as taking a tiny sample from the baby’s placenta, the organ that provides it with all the oxygen and nutrients it needs before it’s born.

Knowing a child has a high risk of developing an allergy could help pave the way for interventions to reduce the severity of the allergy, or even prevent it.

Professor Vicki Clifton, from the Mater Medical Research Institute at the University of Queensland, said the placenta was usually discarded after birth.

But her team has found it can provide genetic clues about whether the baby is at risk of developing an allergy in the first few years of life.

“Allergies are the first chronic disease that children develop in life and it’s incidence is increasing significantly in Australia,” Prof Clifton said.

“Often we cannot diagnose allergies without the children having an allergic response and by then the horse has bolted,” she said.

Currently there are recommendations made around breastfeeding and the introduction of solids to reduce the risk of food allergies in children with a family history of allergic disease.

However, Prof Clifton said many trials of other interventions have failed or their significance diluted because they have been performed in children who may not even be at risk.

“But if we can take the placenta at birth and identify the children at a high risk of allergy and then try an intervention, we may be able to find ways to reduce the impact of an allergy or prevent the baby from going on to develop a significant one.”

Their research looked at the proteins and genes in donated human placentas from South Australia as a marker of which children will go on to develop an allergy.

“A lot of people want to know if their child is at risk of developing an allergy and whether they can do something before they get it,” Prof Clifton said.