Studies and trials

Investigators: Professor Helen Brough, Professor Gideon Lack, Dr Susan Chan
Sub-Investigators: Dr Suzana Radulovic and Dr Hannah Marshall
Research nurses phone: 020 7188 7637
Recruitment: Michelle Stewart
Contact details: 07912 488736 or gst-tr.sealstudy@nhs.net

Why is the study running/who is running the study?

Infants with dry skin or eczema are at a higher risk of developing food allergies. Research suggests that one of the ways food allergy develops is by exposure to the food allergens through a broken skin barrier (for example, eczema).

The SEAL study is investigating whether proactive early treatment of dry skin and eczema can prevent later development of food allergies in babies under the age of 12 weeks.

An international team are running the SEAL study, including teams from Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London.

What is it trying to achieve?

The study will test if using a combination of regular skin moisturiser with topical steroids as necessary (proactive care) prevents or minimises eczema and therefore also decreases the prevalence of food allergy compared to using the participant's usual home skincare routine (reactive care).

What does the study involve?

Some parents will be provided with moisturiser to apply daily to their baby's skin. Treatment with topical steroids will be assessed and applied when necessary. Other parents will continue with their baby's normal skincare routine.

After a screening visit with our doctors and nurses, participants will have yearly hospital visits at St Thomas’ Hospital. Between visits our nurses will regularly contact participants to help us to determine the effect of the different treatments. The study lasts 2 years.

What is the study's goal?

The study's goal is to determine whether early proactive skincare is better than routine skincare in preventing food allergy by reducing the amount and severity of eczema.

How can I get involved?

If you're interested in your baby taking part in this research study, please phone 07912 488736, email gst-tr.sealstudy@nhs.net or register your interest by completing our online form.

Investigator: Emma Southby, cleft lip and palate matron
Contact: Vania Oliveira and Amanpreet Banga, research nurses, 020 7188 7188 ext 52237.

Why is the study running/who is running the study?

The cleft study is run with our cleft lip and palate service. It looks at children born with cleft (split) lip or palate and aims to understand:

• why cleft happens
• how cleft can affect a child's life
• how children with cleft can be better supported throughout their life

What is it trying to achieve?

Cleft lip and palate is a congenital condition, which means that it is passed down (inherited) from the child's parents.

Even though cleft is passed through a family, not everyone in the family will be born with a cleft lip or palate. In order to understand why this happens to some family members and not to others, the cleft study looks at the environment the family lives in and their DNA to see if there is any reason why some family members have cleft and some do not.

What does the study involve?

DNA is taken from saliva (spit), blood and tissue (muscle) samples from cleft children, their parents and their siblings.

What is the study's goal?

The study’s goal is to create a group (cohort) of children with cleft who can be followed until they reach 15 years of age so that we can build a better understanding of how having a cleft lip or palate effects their learning and development.

The study hopes to find a pattern (trend) that can be used to create better services and support for children born with cleft lip or palate

How can I get involved?

If you're interested in your child taking part in this research study, please speak to their doctor.

Investigator: Dr Alexandra Santos, senior clinical lecturer and children's allergy consultant
Phone: 020 7188 9524
Email: gst-tr.bat2@nhs.net

Why is the study running?

The current gold standard for diagnosing IgE-mediated food allergies is an oral food challenge. The Basophil Activation Test (BAT) is a new blood test for food allergy which has shown to be useful in the diagnosis of peanut allergy. It has shown to reduce the number of oral food challenges needed to confirm peanut allergy. It would be very useful to have a similar test for other common food allergies such as milk, egg, cashew and sesame.

What is the study trying to achieve?

The study aims to determine if the BAT can predict whether a participant is allergic or tolerant to the allergen of interest (milk/egg/cashew/sesame) and how the BAT results compare to the current gold standard for diagnosing a food allergy, which is an oral food challenge. As most milk and egg-allergic children can tolerate egg and milk as an ingredient in baked products, the study also aims to determine if the BAT can differentiate between those who can tolerate the baked form of these foods and those who are allergic to all forms of milk or egg.

What does the study involve?

The study involves a visit to the Evelina London Children’s Hospital for an oral food challenge, skin prick tests and a blood sample for specific IgEs and the Basophil Activation Test as well as a couple of phone calls. For the patients being assessed for milk or egg allergies, it also involves a short online food frequency questionnaire on the allergen of interest which is to be completed every 2 months for 2 years.

What is the study's goal?

The goal of the study is to assess the accuracy of the BAT in diagnosing IgE-mediated food allergy and potentially reduce the number of oral food challenges required to diagnose milk, egg, cashew and sesame allergies in the future. It will also allow us to understand how to make a better use of the allergy tests that we currently have.

How can I get involved?

If you are interested in your child taking part in this research study, please speak to your doctor or healthcare provider at our children's allergy service who can refer you to the study team.