A role for Leukotriene B4 in the induction of airway hyper-responsiveness was explored through the use of transgenic mice deficient in the BLT1 receptor for LTB4 . Ovalbumin challenge of sensitized wild-type mice resulted in the usual features of experimental asthma, including goblet cell hyperplasia, hyper-responsiveness to inhaled methacholine and elevated BAL fluid concentrations of the Th2 cytokine IL-13. In contrast, BLT1 –/– mice (i.e. genetically modified mice lacking the gene coding for the BLT1 receptor) exhibited significantly lower responses. BLT1 –/– mice also exhibited lower numbers of IL-13-positive T lymphocytes of both the helper (CD4 T Cells) and cytotoxic/suppressor (CD8 + ) types. (more…)
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has be ...
Airway hyper-responsiveness in asthma may involve smooth muscle growth, a manifestation of airway remodelling. The involvement ...
IgE plays an important role in allergic asthma. Reducing IgE in the airway mucosa should reduce airway inflammation. Omalizumab has ...
Some features seem to be common to severe asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with reversibility of airflow limita ...
Antihistamines have been shown to be effective in seasonal allergic rhinitis and chronic idiopathic urticaria. They improve qua ...
Histamine is a low-molecular-weight monoamine that binds to four different G-protein-coupled receptors, and has recently been demonstrated to regulate several essential events in the immune response. The histamine receptor type 2 (HR2) is coupled to adenylate cyclase and studies in different species and several human cells have demonstrated that inhibition of characteristic features of the cells by primarily cAMP formation dominates in HR2-dependent effects of histamine. (more…)
Allergen-specific immunotherapy is highly effective in the treatment of IgE-mediated allergy diseases such as rhinitis, conjunc ...
The precise mechanisms underlying the effects of Specific Immunotherapy are not well understood but several studies have shown ...
The specific treatment of allergy has previously relied upon allergen avoidance and sublingual immunotherapy. These approaches have ...
Allergen-specific immunotherapy aims to correct the underlying immune imbalance associated with specific immunotherapy allergic rhi ...
The immunologic mechanisms of sublingual immunotherapy are less established. In Cochrane analysis, the authors concluded that t ...
The immunologic mechanisms of sublingual immunotherapy are less established. In Cochrane analysis, the authors concluded that there was an increase in IgG4 but no stable effect on IgE levels in adults. In addition, the induction of allergen-specific IgA has been reported. There are conflicting data concerning lympho-proliferative responses. So far the evidence on changes in Th1/Th2/Treg activity induced by sublingual immunotherapy need to be confirmed. The effects on T-cell reactivity and cytokine secretion show strong variation in a number of studies. (more…)
Allergen-specific immunotherapy aims to correct the underlying immune imbalance associated with specific immunotherapy allergic rhi ...
The precise mechanisms underlying the effects of Specific Immunotherapy are not well understood but several studies have shown ...
The increasing prevalence of allergic disease in the Western world has led to the concept of the ‘allergic march’ to describe t ...
Allergen-specific immunotherapy is highly effective in the treatment of IgE-mediated allergy diseases such as rhinitis, conjunc ...
Histamine is a low-molecular-weight monoamine that binds to four different G-protein-coupled receptors, and has recently been d ...
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 ...
Allergen-specific immunotherapy is highly effective in the treatment of IgE-mediated allergy diseases such as rhinitis, conjunctivitis, asthma, and venom allergy hypersensitivity. It is the only treatment that leads to lifelong tolerance against previously disease-causing allergens due to restoration of the normal immunity. (more…)
Allergen-specific immunotherapy aims to correct the underlying immune imbalance associated with specific immunotherapy allergic rhi ...
Histamine is a low-molecular-weight monoamine that binds to four different G-protein-coupled receptors, and has recently been d ...
The precise mechanisms underlying the effects of Specific Immunotherapy are not well understood but several studies have shown ...
Treg cells or regulatory T cells constitute a large population of cellular infiltrate in atopic/allergic inflammation and a dys ...
The immunologic mechanisms of sublingual immunotherapy are less established. In Cochrane analysis, the authors concluded that t ...
An emerging concept is that pro-inflammatory signals lead to loss of Regulatory T Cells (Treg) function. Pasare and Medzhitov (2003) demonstrated that activation of DCs through TLRs led to the production of signals, including IL-6, which blocked the suppressive effect of CD4+CD25+ Treg. Subsequent studies support these observations. For example in a mouse model of allergic airway disease, IL-6 is proposed to act via two mechanisms to promote disease: direct enhancement of Th2 responses and by overcoming the suppressive function of CD4+CD25+ Treg. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) as well as IL-7 and IL-15 have also been proposed to overcome regulatory activity in other human immunologic diseases. (more…)
Regulatory T cells Treg (picture above) is the existence of suppressor cells, which limit ongoing immune responses and prevent ...
The intracellular forkhead winged transcription factor Foxp3 (forkhead box P3) appears to be specifically expressed by naturall ...
The induction of immune tolerance and specific immune suppression are essential processes in the control of immune responses. R ...
Treg cells or regulatory T cells constitute a large population of cellular infiltrate in atopic/allergic inflammation and a dys ...
Allergen-specific immunotherapy is highly effective in the treatment of IgE-mediated allergy diseases such as rhinitis, conjunc ...
The intracellular forkhead winged transcription factor Foxp3 (forkhead box P3) appears to be specifically expressed by naturally occurring Treg cells, particularly in mice, although in humans there is evidence of upregulation of Foxp3 in all T cells on activation. Foxp3 is required for the development and function of naturally occurring regulatory t cells (treg) and expression is sufficient to convert non-regulatory CD4+CD25T cells into cells with regulatory activity. Conversion of peripheral CD4+CD25 naive T cells to Foxp3+CD4+CD25 foxp3+ Treg cells can be induced by TGF-ß. In a murine asthma model, these TGF-ß-induced Treg prevented house-dust mite-induced allergic pathogenesis or infection pathogenesis in lungs. A single independent report has suggested that IL-4 and IL-13 also induce Foxp3+CD25+ Treg from CD4+CD25precursors. (more…)
Regulatory T cells Treg (picture above) is the existence of suppressor cells, which limit ongoing immune responses and prevent ...
An emerging concept is that pro-inflammatory signals lead to loss of Regulatory T Cells (Treg) function. Pasare and Medzhitov ( ...
Treg cells or regulatory T cells constitute a large population of cellular infiltrate in atopic/allergic inflammation and a dys ...
The induction of immune tolerance and specific immune suppression are essential processes in the control of immune responses. R ...
Allergen-specific immunotherapy is highly effective in the treatment of IgE-mediated allergy diseases such as rhinitis, conjunc ...
Regulatory T cells Treg (picture above) is the existence of suppressor cells, which limit ongoing immune responses and prevent autoimmune disease, was postulated over 30 years ago. The recent phenotypic and functional characterization of these cells has led to a resurgence of interest in their therapeutic application in a number of immune-mediated diseases. Two broad subsets of CD3+CD4+ suppressive or Treg cells have been described: constitutive or naturally occurring versus adaptive or inducible Treg. (more…)
An emerging concept is that pro-inflammatory signals lead to loss of Regulatory T Cells (Treg) function. Pasare and Medzhitov ( ...
The intracellular forkhead winged transcription factor Foxp3 (forkhead box P3) appears to be specifically expressed by naturall ...
The induction of immune tolerance and specific immune suppression are essential processes in the control of immune responses. R ...
Treg cells or regulatory T cells constitute a large population of cellular infiltrate in atopic/allergic inflammation and a dys ...
Allergen-specific immunotherapy is highly effective in the treatment of IgE-mediated allergy diseases such as rhinitis, conjunc ...
Neutrophils make up an army of more-or-less identical circulating phagocytes that are poised to respond quickly and in vast numbers wherever tissue injury has occurred. The mature cells, which are also known as segmented neutrophils (segs) or polymorphonuclear leukocytes (polys, or PMNs), can easily be identified by their characteristic multilobed nucleus and by the abundant storage granules in their cytoplasm (Figure bellow). (more…)
The process by which blood cells grow, divide, and differentiate in the bone marrow is called hematopoiesis. Three general cl ...
Once it is tethered onto the venule wall, the neutrophil or other leukocyte comes into contact with a wide variety of inflammatory ...
Although it is commonly imagined that hematopoiesis takes place in a liquid environment resembling the blood, with progenitors resp ...
Nearly all tissues, organs, and serosal cavities harbor a population of resident phagocytes. Most contain only a diffuse scattering ...
Acute inflammatory response constitute the first line of defense against infection pathogenesis and how immune system works as ...
A few of the best known humoral effectors of innate immunity are listed in Table 1 bellow, along with the types of target molecules they recognize. Some are enzymes that can directly injure or kill microbial pathogens. An example is lysozyme, an endoglycosidase found in human saliva, mucus, tears, and other secretions, which attacks the protective cell wall encasing every bacterial cell. Lysozyme acts by digesting the peptidoglycan meshwork formed by long carbohydrate chains of alternating N-acetylmuramic acid and N-acetylglucosamine residues, crosslinked covalently by short oligopeptide sidechains which is a major constituent of all bacterial cell walls but is not found in mammalian tissues. (more…)
An especially elaborate and important type of innate antimicrobial enzymes defense is provided by a group of serum proteins tha ...
One especially favored target for immune recognition is bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). This macromolecule is found only in ...
The body's innate resistance to many pathogens is provided by enzymes and other proteins in the blood and tissue fluids. These ...
With the exception of complement protein C3, most soluble mediators of innate immunity are found in relatively small amounts in ...
Although it is commonly imagined that hematopoiesis takes place in a liquid environment resembling the blood, with progenitors resp ...