Eosinophil infiltration of the mucosa is a feature of asthmatic airways. Their adhesion to bronchial epithelial cells has been proposed to lead to the generation of inflammation mediators which may contribute to asthma pathology. Bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B cell line) and peripheral blood eosinophils were cultured alone or in combination and the production of an inflammatory cytokine, IL-6, was measured. IL-6 was produced principally by epithelial cells and the production was enhanced more than 10-fold in the presence of eosinophils. Significant augmentation of epithelial IL-6 production persisted even when eosinophils were fixed with paraformaldehyde. The eosinophil-induced IL-6 production was extensively inhibited by inhibitors of p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase or nuclear factor ??B (NF??B). (more…)
Exacerbations of asthma are frequently associated with rhinoviral infection. Rhinoviruses infect respiratory epithelial cells, ...
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) act as receptors for numerous stimuli of immune cells, including bacterial cell wall constituents (l ...
Airway hyper-responsiveness in asthma may involve smooth muscle growth, a manifestation of airway remodelling. The involvement ...
Contact of pathogens with the innate immune system will most frequently occur at epithelia, and the biology of the airway epitheliu ...
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has be ...
Airway remodelling is considered to be of major importance in the pathology of asthma, with subepithelial basement membrane thickening in particular being indicative of early development of the disease and characteristic of its progression. Airway fibroblasts are central cells in the processes of remodelling: increased deposition of fibroblast-derived connective tissue proteins and differentiation of fibroblasts into contractile myofibroblasts are consistent observations in morphological studies of moderate to severe asthmatic airways. The secretory function of fibroblasts is under the control of locally produced growth factors such as vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF, see below) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). (more…)
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has be ...
Local micro environmental factors are crucial in determining both susceptibility to vascular remodeling and the extent of angio ...
Tumour Necrosis Factor is a pro-inflammatory cytokine implicated in the pathogenesis of asthmatic airway inflammation, hyper-react ...
Asthma is a continuing problem for healthcare, particularly in the industrialized world. Some 150 million people are estimated ...
Airway hyper-responsiveness in asthma may involve smooth muscle growth, a manifestation of airway remodelling. The involvement ...
Treg cells or regulatory T cells constitute a large population of cellular infiltrate in atopic/allergic inflammation and a dysregulated immune response appears to be an important pathogenetic factor. Cardinal events during allergic inflammation can be classified as activation, organ-selective homing, survival and reactivation, and effector functions of immune system cells. T cells are activated by aeroallergens, food antigens, autoantigens, and bacterial exotoxins superantigens in allergic inflammation. They are under the influence of the skin, lung, or nose-related chemokine network and show organ-selective homing. (more…)
Allergen-specific immunotherapy is highly effective in the treatment of IgE-mediated allergy diseases such as rhinitis, conjunc ...
The induction of immune tolerance and specific immune suppression are essential processes in the control of immune responses. R ...
The intracellular forkhead winged transcription factor Foxp3 (forkhead box P3) appears to be specifically expressed by naturall ...
An emerging concept is that pro-inflammatory signals lead to loss of Regulatory T Cells (Treg) function. Pasare and Medzhitov ( ...
Regulatory T cells Treg (picture above) is the existence of suppressor cells, which limit ongoing immune responses and prevent ...
A variety of proinflammatory cells, mediators, and cytokines orchestrate the development of airway hyperresponsiveness, which results in the episodic airflow obstruction characteristic of asthma. As a consequence, modulation of the underlying disease process with antii-nflammatory agents is firmly established as being the cornerstone of successful management. Inhaled corticosteroids are the most potent antiinflammatory agents available and satisfactorily suppress underlying airway inflammation in most individuals. (more…)
The cysteinyl leukotrienes (LTC 4 , LTD 4 and LTE 4 ) are lipid mediators produced from an arachidonic acid precursor following ...
Antihistamines have been shown to be effective in seasonal allergic rhinitis and chronic idiopathic urticaria. They improve qua ...
In the UK, Europe and the USA, montelukast is licensed for once-daily oral administration in adults and is also available as a ...
Leukotrienes can be found in the airway and urine following both spontaneous exacerbations of asthma and acute exposure to bron ...
Despite optimum drug delivery and good compliance with inhaled corticosteroids, many patients experience symptoms and exacerbat ...
Allergic rhinitis and asthma are common comorbidities. Like asthma, the presence of a genetic component in allergic rhinitis has been well established. To identify genetic linkage regions unique to allergic rhinitis, as well as those shared by allergic rhinitis and asthma, a genome screen study was conducted. A total of 295 families in the French Epidemiological Study on the Genetics and Environment of Asthma (EGEA) containing 1317 subjects were genotyped for 396 microsatellite markers. The families included had two siblings with DNA available and at least one asthmatic subject. Three definitions of allergic rhinitis were used, two binary and one categorical. To investigate linkages specific to allergic rhinitis (without asthma), linkage analyses were also conducted in 185 families with at most one asthmatic sib. (more…)
This study sought to determine the influence of passive exposure to tobacco smoke during childhood on the results of genetic linkag ...
This study examined the genetic basis of sensitization to house dust mite allergy allergens. A genome scan was conducted usin ...
About twenty percent of patients who have common allergic rhinitis are also having perennial allergic rhinitis symptoms. This f ...
A previous genome-wide screen for mite-sensitive atopic dermatitis asthma in Japanese families indicated linkage to chromosome 5q33 ...
Asthmatic children who also have Allergic Rhinitis seem to have higher morbidity and to use more healthcare resources. This was fur ...
Tumour Necrosis Factor is a pro-inflammatory cytokine implicated in the pathogenesis of asthmatic airway inflammation, hyper-reactivity and remodelling. The primary aim of the trial was to assess whether TNF antagonism, using a soluble Tumour Necrosis Factor receptor (TNFR:Fc etanercept, Enbrel ® ), can attenuate eosinophilic airway inflammation in patients with mild to moderate allergic asthma. (more…)
Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) is a major therapeutic target in a range of chronic inflammatory disorders involving neutr ...
Marimastat is a synthetic broad-spectrum matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitor. This study assessed the anti-inflammatory effect ...
Roflumilast is an oral, once-daily inhibitor of phosphodiesterase type 4 (PDE4) that prevents the breakdown of cyclic adenosine ...
IgE plays an important role in allergic asthma. Reducing IgE in the airway mucosa should reduce airway inflammation. Omalizumab has ...
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has be ...
Diagnosis of food hypersensitivity is a clinical challenge and the only current definitive test is the Double Blind Placebo-Controlled Food Challenges. Although the Double Blind Placebo-Controlled Food Challenges is the current gold standard, it is difficult to perform and is very time-consuming. Hence, researchers are continually evaluating new tests and assessing the value of the available serum tests. (more…)
The food eating challenges materials used at different centers vary considerably. Some centers use freeze-dried foods, some use con ...
Over the last 5 years some studies have suggested that the atopy patch test (APT) may be a useful test in atopic dermatitis childre ...
The diagnostic approach to allergic food reactions comprises three steps. The first step includes the medical allergy history, ...
This population-based cross-sectional study, funded by a UK government agency, aimed to establish the rate of sensitization to food ...
If you suspect that certain foods trigger wheezing or asthma symptoms in your child, your first action should be a consultation ...
The potency of an allergen vaccine is the total allergen activity (that is, the sum of the contribution to allergenic activity from any individual IgE molecule specific for any t-cell epitopes on any molecule in the allergen vaccine). It follows that potency measures always will depend on the serum pool or patient panel selected as well as the methodology used. Methods used for the assessment of allergen vaccine potency may be divided into in vitro or in vivo techniques. (more…)
The quality of an allergen vaccine is a measure of the complexity of the composition, including the concentration of the variou ...
A subcommittee under the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) for the establishment of international standards (IS ...
Allergen vaccines are complex mixtures of antigenic components produced by the extraction of naturally occurring source materia ...
Having determined an adequate potency and complexity in composition, an allergen vaccine may still be deficient in the content of m ...
Being an immunological disease, the characteristics of allergy are those of specificity and memory. Regardless of whether the c ...
This study compared the diagnostic value of intradermal tests and patch tests in 20 patients with non-immediate reactions to penicillin (none had IgE antibodies to benzylpenicillin or amoxicillin detectable using a commercial RAST [radioallergosorbent test] method), using 30 patients tolerant to penicillin as controls. Intradermal tests assessed reactivity to injection of major and minor determinants of benzylpenicillin, amoxicillin and ampicillin. Allergy patch testing involved the same hapten solutions used for intradermal testing, either embedded in a patch disk or mixed with petrolatum. (more…)
Suspected drug allergy is not easy to investigate. In the UK, few centers have the necessary facilities and expertise, the evid ...
Patients (and many doctors) frequently use the term ‘allergy’ when referring to any adverse drug reaction, even one that has no fea ...
One of the popular allergy testing besides food allergy testing is skin allergy testing. Allergy patch test is the most commo ...
Allergy skin testing is probably the most susceptible and practical way to monitor for existing allergy sensitivity. Biological ...
Over the last 5 years some studies have suggested that the atopy patch test (APT) may be a useful test in atopic dermatitis childre ...
Being an immunological disease, the characteristics of allergy are those of specificity and memory. Regardless of whether the clinical manifestation is rhinoconjunctivitis, rhinitis, or asthma, the underlying immunological response disorder is based on the adverse reactions of cells in the immune system upon contact with allergens. These cells are specific for epitopes that are structural parts of allergens present in the allergenic source material. Two types of cells (i.e., T cells and B-cells) produce receptor molecules (i.e., T-cell receptors and immunoglobulin [IgE] antibodies) that, through high-affinity interactions with the allergen, efficiently catalyze the presence of even minute amounts of allergens into clinical symptoms, the extreme consequence of which may be life-threatening to the patient. (more…)
Allergen vaccines are complex mixtures of antigenic components produced by the extraction of naturally occurring source materia ...
The production of allergen vaccines imposes a number of constraints on both the selection of source materials and the physicoch ...
The quality of an allergen vaccine is a measure of the complexity of the composition, including the concentration of the variou ...
The potency of an allergen vaccine is the total allergen activity (that is, the sum of the contribution to allergenic activity from ...
Having determined an adequate potency and complexity in composition, an allergen vaccine may still be deficient in the content of m ...