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Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, are a number of conditions caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic dermatitis, allergic asthma, and anaphylaxis. Symptoms may include red eyes, an itchy rash, sneezing, a runny nose, shortness of breath, or swelling. Food intolerances and food poisoning are separate conditions.
An allergen is a type of antigen that produces an abnormally vigorous immune response in which the immune system fights off a perceived threat that would otherwise be harmless to the body. Such reactions are called allergies.
Autoimmunity is the system of immune responses of an organism against its own healthy cells and tissues. Any disease that results from such an aberrant immune response is termed an "autoimmune disease". Prominent examples include celiac disease, post-infectious IBS, diabetes mellitus type 1, Henloch Scholein Pupura (HSP) sarcoidosis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjögren syndrome, eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Graves' disease, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Addison's disease, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis, polymyositis (PM), dermatomyositis (DM) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Autoimmune diseases are very often treated with steroids.
Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies, while immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are classified as suppression immunotherapies.
Allergic rhinitis, also known as hay fever, is a type of inflammation in the nose which occurs when the immune system overreacts to allergens in the air. Signs and symptoms include a runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, red, itchy, and watery eyes, and swelling around the eyes. The fluid from the nose is usually clear. Symptom onset is often within minutes following allergen exposure and can affect sleep, and the ability to work or study. Some people may develop symptoms only during specific times of the year, often as a result of pollen exposure. Many people with allergic rhinitis also have asthma, allergic conjunctivitis, or atopic dermatitis.
Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is a type of antibody that has only been found in mammals. IgE is synthesised by plasma cells. Monomers of IgE consist of two heavy chains and two light chains, with the ε chain containing 4 Ig-like constant domains (Cε1-Cε4). IgE's main function is immunity to parasites such as helminths like Schistosoma mansoni, Trichinella spiralis, and Fasciola hepatica. IgE is utilized during immune defense against certain protozoan parasites such as Plasmodium falciparum. IgE may have evolved as a last line of defense to protect against venoms.
Latex allergy is a medical term encompassing a range of allergic reactions to the proteins present in natural rubber latex. Latex allergy generally develops after repeated exposure to products containing natural rubber latex. When latex-containing medical devices or supplies come in contact with mucous membranes, the membranes may absorb latex proteins. The immune system of some susceptible individuals produces antibodies that react immunologically with these antigenic proteins. As many items contain or are made from natural rubber, including shoe soles, elastic bands, rubber gloves, condoms, baby-bottle nipples, and balloons, there are many possible routes of exposure that may trigger a reaction. People with latex allergies may also have or develop allergic reactions to some fruits, such as bananas.
Allergen immunotherapy, also known as desensitization or hypo-sensitization, is a medical treatment for environmental allergies, such as insect bites, and asthma. Immunotherapy involves exposing people to larger and larger amounts of allergen in an attempt to change the immune system's response.
A hypoallergenic dog breed is a dog breed that is purportedly more compatible with allergic people than are other breeds. However, prominent allergen researchers have claimed that there is no basis to the claims that certain breeds are hypoallergenic and, while allergen levels vary among individual dogs, the breed is not a significant factor.
Peanut allergy is a type of food allergy to peanuts. It is different from tree nut allergies, with peanuts being legumes and not true nuts. Physical symptoms of allergic reaction can include itchiness, hives, swelling, eczema, sneezing, asthma attack, abdominal pain, drop in blood pressure, diarrhea, and cardiac arrest. Anaphylaxis may occur. Those with a history of asthma are more likely to be severely affected.
In academia, computational immunology is a field of science that encompasses high-throughput genomic and bioinformatics approaches to immunology. The field's main aim is to convert immunological data into computational problems, solve these problems using mathematical and computational approaches and then convert these results into immunologically meaningful interpretations.
Soy allergy is a type of food allergy. It is a hypersensitivity to ingesting compounds in soy, causing an overreaction of the immune system, typically with physical symptoms, such as gastrointestinal discomfort, respiratory distress, or a skin reaction. Soy is among the eight most common foods inducing allergic reactions in children and adults. It has a prevalence of about 0.3% in the general population.
β-Lactoglobulin (BLG) is the major whey protein of cow and sheep's milk, and is also present in many other mammalian species; a notable exception being humans. Its structure, properties and biological role have been reviewed many times.
Immune tolerance, or immunological tolerance, or immunotolerance, is a state of unresponsiveness of the immune system to substances or tissue that have the capacity to elicit an immune response in a given organism. It is induced by prior exposure to that specific antigen and contrasts with conventional immune-mediated elimination of foreign antigens. Tolerance is classified into central tolerance or peripheral tolerance depending on where the state is originally induced—in the thymus and bone marrow (central) or in other tissues and lymph nodes (peripheral). The mechanisms by which these forms of tolerance are established are distinct, but the resulting effect is similar.
Allergies to cats are one of the most common allergies among individuals. Among the eight known cat allergens, the most prominent allergen is secretoglobin Fel d 1, and it is produced in the anal glands, salivary glands, and, mainly, in sebaceous glands of cats, and is ubiquitous in the United States, even in households without cats. Allergic symptoms associated with cats include coughing, wheezing, chest tightening, itching, nasal congestion, rash, watering eyes, sneezing, chapped lips, and similar symptoms. In worst-case scenarios, allergies to cats can develop into more life-threatening conditions such as rhinitis and mild to severe forms of asthma. Despite these symptoms, there are many types of solutions to mitigate the allergic effects of cats, including medications, vaccines, and home remedies. Hypoallergenic cats are another solution for individuals who want pets without the allergic consequences. Furthermore, prospective pet owners can reduce allergic reactions by selecting cats of a specific gender or color, which are associated with a lower production of allergens.
Milk allergy is an adverse immune reaction to one or more proteins in cow's milk. When allergy symptoms occur, they can occur rapidly or have a gradual onset. The former may include anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening condition which requires treatment with epinephrine among other measures. The latter can take hours to days to appear, with symptoms including atopic dermatitis, inflammation of the esophagus, enteropathy involving the small intestine and proctocolitis involving the rectum and colon.
The immunochemistry of Triticeae glutens is important in several inflammatory diseases. It can be subdivided into innate responses, class II mediated presentation, class I mediated stimulation of killer cells, and antibody recognition. The responses to gluten proteins and polypeptide regions differs according to the type of gluten sensitivity. The response is also dependent on the genetic makeup of the human leukocyte antigen genes. In gluten sensitive enteropathy, there are 4 types of recognition, innate immunity, HLA-DQ, and antibody recognition of gliadin and transglutaminase. With idiopathic gluten sensitivity only antibody recognition to gliadin has been resolved. In wheat allergy, the response pathways are mediated through IgE against other wheat proteins and other forms of gliadin.
Pro-hevein is a wound-induced and a lectin-like protein from Hevea brasiliensis where it is involved in the coagulation of latex.
Kari C. Nadeau is an American physician-scientist focused on allergy and asthma treatment at Stanford University School of Medicine. She is the Naddisy Family Foundation Professor of Allergy and the director of the Sean N Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford. Her team was among the first to show that high dimensional immunophenotyping of T cells involved in allergy could be used in therapies for patients. Her research has also shown that blocking antibodies in conjunction with allergen immunotherapy produced desensitization even in patients with up to five food allergens.
Ursula Wiedermann is an Austrian medical scientist who has made significant contributions in the field of allergies and of cancer immunotherapy. She is currently Professor of Vaccinology at the Medical University of Vienna. Wiedermann's work in the field of B cell peptide vaccines led to the creation of HER-Vaxx, an immunotherapy for the treatment of HER-2-positive cancers. This vaccine is currently being taken into mid-stage clinical development in gastric cancer by the biotech company Imugene, where Wiedermann is Chief Scientific Officer.
References
- ↑ Marsh, D.G.; Lichtenstein, L.M.; Campbell, D.H. (1970). "Studies on "allergoids" prepared from naturally occurring allergens. I. Assay of allergenicity and antigenicity of formalinized rye group I component". Immunology. 18 (5): 705–722. PMC 1455593 . PMID 4192674.
- ↑ HayGlass, K.T.; Strejan, G.H. (1983). "Antigen- and IgE class-specific suppression mediated by T suppressor cells of mice treated with glutaraldehyde-polymerized ovalbumin". International Archives of Allergy and Applied Immunology. 71 (1): 23–31. doi:10.1159/000233357. PMID 6187695.
- ↑ Valenta, R.; Niederberger, V. (2007). "Recombinant allergens for immunotherapy". Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 119 (4): 826–830. doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2007.01.025. PMID 17335886.
- ↑ Olivier, C.E.; Lima, P.S.; Pinto, D.G.; Santos, R.A.P.G.; Silva, G.K.M.; Lorena, S.L.S.; Villas-Boas, M.B.; Netto, F.M.; Zollner, R.L. (2012). "In search of a tolerance-induction strategy for cow's milk allergies: significant reduction of beta-lactoglobulin allergenicity via transglutaminase/cysteine polymerization" (PDF). Clinics (Sao Paulo). 67 (10): 1171–1179. doi:10.6061/clinics/2012(10)09. PMC 3460020 . PMID 23070344. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2012-11-15.