Food allergy is an emerging epidemic that affects all age groups, with the highest prevalence rates being reported amongst Western countries such as the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and Australia. The development of animal models to test various food allergies has been beneficial in allowing more rapid and extensive investigations into the mechanisms involved in the allergic pathway, such as predicting possible triggers as well as the testing of novel treatments for food allergy. Traditionally, small animal models have been used to characterise immunological pathways, providing the foundation for the development of numerous allergy models. Larger animals also merit consideration as models for food allergy as they are thought to more closely reflect the human allergic state due to their physiology and outbred nature. This paper will discuss the use of animal models for the investigation of the major food allergens; cow's milk, hen's egg, and peanut/other tree nuts, highlight the distinguishing features of each of these models, and provide an overview of how the results from these trials have improved our understanding of these specific allergens and food allergy in general. 1. Introduction In the industrialised nations, food allergy is a growing epidemic affecting all age groups and appearing at any time in life. A marked increase in the incidence of food allergy in young children is of particular concern, with a reported 6–8% of young children and 3-4% of adults having some type of food allergy [1–3]. Comparable to the trends first seen with asthma, countries such as the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and Australia have the highest rates of food allergy. In the past decade alone, prevalence rates in the US have increased by at least 18% [4, 5]. Similarly, a recent study in Australia found that more than 10% of a cohort of infants had challenge-proven IgE-mediated food allergy to one of the common allergenic foods (peanut, raw egg, and sesame) [6]. This escalation in the prevalence of food allergies underlies the importance of further research to improve prevention and treatment strategies. Allergic reactions to food can range from mild responses to life-threatening anaphylaxis [7]. These aberrant allergic reactions are principally driven by a T helper type 2 (Th2) immune pathway, as evidenced by high levels of allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) [8], Th2 polarisation involving inflammatory cells, and cytokines/mediators, and the reported efficacy of therapies that inhibit Th2 immune responses in human subjects [9–12]. There is
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