The IU School of Medicine has received a $3.9 million dollar grant to study how allergies may be transmitted from mother to child.
According to the press release, the grant is led by Joan Cook-Mills, professor of pediatrics.
According to Cook-Mills, the main goal of the study is “to determine the factors that are generated from allergic moms to the fetus and to the newborn that affect development of allergies in the newborn.”
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The research comes from her lab and “revealed mothers with allergies have elevated levels of a specific lipid within the eicosanoid class of lipids, suggesting this lipid may have potential influence on their offspring also developing allergies.”
According to Cook-Mills, “Allergies run in family, so often many of the people in the family have allergies. It may not be just genetics, it’s usually an interaction of the genetics and the environment and if the mother is allergic, the offspring or children also are more predisposed to developing allergies.”
Cook-Mills also said she has “been looking at determining what is the factor that comes from the mom that could affect the fetal development of the immune system as well as the immune response after birth.” Cook-Mills believes the research may point the way to intervene in the future to avoid or mitigate the allergy.
