Common asthma drug could prevent life-threatening allergic reactions
A single dose of the asthma medication zileuton stopped severe allergic reactions in mice by blocking food allergens from entering the bloodstream
By Jay Kakade
7 August 2025
Stephanie Eisenbarth and Adam Williams prepping peanuts for allergy research in their lab
Northwestern University
A common asthma medication has been shown to shield mice from anaphylaxis – a potentially fatal allergic reaction. The drug, called zileuton, has long been used to treat asthma and is now being trialled in humans as a possible treatment for severe allergic reactions to food.
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Although many people have food allergies, it is difficult to predict an individual’s risk of anaphylaxis upon exposure to an allergen. Researchers have been working to understand why some people with positive blood tests for food allergens show no symptoms, while others experience severe, sometimes life-threatening reactions.
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“Our goal is to find ways to make people with symptomatic food allergy tolerate exposure to allergens,” says Stephanie Eisenbarth at Northwestern University in Illinois.
Eisenbarth and her colleagues used groups of five to 10 mice that had been sensitised to peanut allergens such that they were expected to experience anaphylaxis with exposure to peanuts. Each mouse was given a single oral dose of zileuton about an hour before being fed peanut extract. A control group was not given the drug. Then the researchers watched the zileuton-dosed mice for signs of anaphylaxis, such as a drop in body temperature and increased heart rate, and found that nearly every zileuton-treated mouse remained symptom-free. The control group showed clear signs of anaphylaxis.
Most of the proteins we eat are broken down, but a few are actively transported across the gut and into the bloodstream intact. In severely allergic people, these trigger immune cells and cause anaphylaxis.
