Scleroderma is a disease of unknown cause characterized by abnormally increased collagen deposition in the skin. The course is usually slowly progressive and chronically disabling, but it can be rapidly progressive and fatal because of involvement of internal organs. It commonly begins in the third or fourth decade of life, but children are occasionally affected. The prevalence of the disease is one case per 100,000 in the population. Women are affected twice as often as men. There is no racial predisposition. (more…)

Local micro environmental factors are crucial in determining both susceptibility to vascular remodeling and the extent of angiogenesis. Major exogenous triggers of airway inflammation in asthma include viruses and inhaled aeroallergens, both of which are known to be associated with the production of angiogenic factors . These stimuli elicit reciprocal immune responses, through elaboration of Th1 and Th2 cytokines. (more…)

Scleroderma is a disease related with body autoimmune, connective tissue disease. Scleroderma induces inflammation and thickening of the skin. In scleroderma patients, their tissues are diffuse connective tissue disease characterized by changes in the skin, blood vessels, skeletal muscles, and internal organs. (more…)

The oral allergy syndrome is difficult to detect. Common allergy tests to examine allergy are using extracts only in skin scratch testing. But this method is quite useless due to many enzymes involved in allergy reaction are already broken out in the process of extraction. They are not as effective as the original enzymes. Oral Allergy Syndrome is usually diagnoses by symptoms that are appeared. The other method is to look for allergy history to pollen, if any. (more…)

The precise mechanisms underlying the effects of Specific Immunotherapy are not well understood but several studies have shown that Specific Immunotherapy T inhibits both early and late immune responses to allergen exposure.

Recently, there have been many studies aimed at elucidating the mechanisms by which allergen-specific immunotherapy works. (more…)

Innate immune responses are seen in a very broad range of tissues. Indeed, the Toll-like receptors (TLRs, one of the most important series of innate immune response proteins, described in detail below) are probably represented at some level in every cell in the body. Even before such systems are engaged, however, other levels of defense have important roles in mediating successful immunity. (more…)

Serum sickness syndrome was first recognized in the pre antibiotic era when heterologous antiserum was used as passive immunization for treatment of a number of infectious and toxic illnesses. Today, specific serum therapy with heterologous (usually equine) serum or gamma globulin is restricted to passive immunization for a very few toxic diseases and the use of antilymphocyte (ALG) or antithymocyte (ATG) globulin for immunosuppressive therapy. This is not applicable to active immunization. (more…)

Contact of pathogens with the innate immune system will most frequently occur at epithelia, and the biology of the airway epithelium is of considerable importance in asthma. Airway epithelia express a range of innate immune receptors, allowing them to function as a line of first response to pathogens: their ability to detect and respond to pathogens must clearly be substantial, given that they form the main target for most respiratory viruses.

There are also potentially close relationships between epithelial cells and other cells of the innate immune system such as DCs and macrophages.

Cooperative networks that regulate airway inflammation are discussed in more detail below. Interestingly, defective responses to respiratory viruses are evident in epithelial cells from asthmatics, which may be relevant in the pathology of asthma exacerbations, and phenotypic differences in epithelia between asthmatics and normal subjects have been demonstrated. (more…)

Nerve fibers containing a variety of neuropeptides, including substance P and CGRP, have been demonstrated in human skin. Intradermal injection of substance P results in an immediate wheal-and-flare reaction , whereas the main effect of CGRP is a long-lasting (4–6 hours) intense erythema. Additionally, CGRP potentiates edema formation evoked by mediators such as substance P. (more…)

While our primary concern is the impact that the innate immune system has on allergic disease, it is essential to recognize that allergic disease also impacts on the function- ing of the innate immune system. In part this is through treatment, since immunosuppressive therapies inevitably contribute to impairment of immunity at the levels of the innate and adaptive systems. (more…)