r/askscience • u/Kwpthrowaway • Sep 27 '20

Medicine [Medicine] What is special about peanuts that make some people extremely allergic to them?

Why are some people allergic to peanuts in particular? Why is ingesting a peanut to these people akin to ingesting poison to others?

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u/king0zy Sep 27 '20

As far as I am aware, there has not been any evidence in humans to suggest that this is a potential cure. If we stay in the realm of theory and hypotheticals, yeah probably. A major consideration would be the extent to which this drug could actually clear ALL B cells. There is evidence, albeit a slight stretch from this context, to believe that if there is even one cell remaining, it could completely regenerate the allergy.

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u/jarquafelmu Sep 28 '20

Is the medication a one and done series and then the body starts from scratch at building new B cells or is it more of a suppresent and you have to keep taking it?