A universal cure for asthma and food allergies is on the horizon after scientists found a way to convince the immune system to ignore triggers like pollen or peanuts.

The new approach involves taking a small amount of the problem food or allergen and encasing it in a special shell to form a 'nanoparticle' which the immune system sees as debris.

When specialist cleaning cells move in to sweep away the debris, they find the hidden cargo, but send out a signal to say that it is not harmful.

"The findings represent a novel, safe and effective long-term way to treat and potentially 'cure' patients with life-threatening respiratory and food allergies," said Professor Stephen Miller of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Illinois, US.

"This may eliminate the need for life-long use of medications to treat lung allergy.

"It's a universal treatment. Depending on what allergy you want to eliminate, you can load up the nanoparticle with ragweed pollen or a peanut protein."