Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) is a delayed (non-IgE mediated) food allergy most commonly present in infants and children.

Those with FPIES experience repetitive and profuse vomiting that typically starts 1-4 hours after eating a certain food. Some infants with FPIES may develop diarrhoea and become floppy, pale and cold.

FPIES is currently under researched and poorly understood. There is no biomarker to diagnose FPIES. Therefore, cases are difficult to identify because reactions can often look like symptoms of an infection rather than an allergic reaction.

Dr Peter Hsu, a Paediatric Allergist and Immunologist based at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, has been awarded a shared international $1 million grant from leading non-profit organisation, FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education).

The research project aims to investigate the specific types of immune cells involved in FPIES reaction to potentially improve diagnosis and treatment.

“FPIES is a condition in children that is very poorly understood, and research is much needed in this area,” said Dr Hsu.

“The grant proposal aims to identify new mechanisms of FPIES using next generation multi-omic approach to pinpoint specific immune cells involved. This could lead to the development of biomarkers for better diagnosis and monitoring.”

The research project is a major national collaboration lead by Dr Hsu and other investigators from Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, University of Sydney, University of NSW, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne and Garvan Institute of Medical Research.

“This is an exciting research opportunity as we collaborate nationally to recruit children for this study,” Dr Hsu added. “I believe it will be a major collaborative project over the next few years.”

Dr Hsu’s research project offers hope and optimism for the future for FPIES diagnosis and treatment.

Acknowledgements

Dr Hsu is an Associate Investigator at the Centre for Food Allergy Research (CFAR) and a Food Allergy Stream Advisory Group member for the National Allergy Centre of Excellence (NACE). CFAR and NACE are hosted at Murdoch Children's Research Institute.

Dr Hsu is part of the Paediatric Allergy and Immunology research group at Kids Research, the research arm of The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network.

This grant was shared with Dr Marta Vazquez-Ortiz from the Imperial College London in the UK. View the FARE media release.