Some Good New In Allergy Research

 

I came across a couple of articles with some very promising research on allergies this past week that I wanted to share. 

The first article titled, *"McMaster and ALK researchers discover new cell that remembers allergies" comes from the website healthsci.mcmaster.ca (McMaster University). Researchers have discovered a completely unique type of memory B cell, which is a type of immune cell that makes antibodies. While these immune cells do their obvious job of helping fight infections, they can also cause allergies. The article states that, "We found allergic people had this memory B cell against their allergen, but non-allergic people had very few, if any.” So for example, if you have a specific food allergy your immune system remembers that specific food so that when you encounter it again it makes more antibodies.

While researchers still don't fully understand how allergies occur and evolve over our life times these findings could help tremendously. As the article states, “Finding the cells that hold IgE memory is a key step forward and a game-changer in our understanding of what causes allergy and how treatment, such as allergy immunotherapy, can modify the disease."  These findings could specifically help researchers target MBC2s and either eliminate or change their function when an allergic person is exposed to an allergen.  You can read more about this at healthsci.mcmaster.ca.

In the second article **"Preventing severe allergic reactions with nanoparticles" on the website National Institutes of Health a team of researchers has been working on a new way to use "nanoparticles to improve the delivery of immunotherapeutics". They are working on ways to prevent anaphylaxis before it even starts by using nanoparticles to block the responses of mast cells. In order to do this they are using two types of antibodies. One which targets a specific protein on mast cells and the other a specific cell receptor to block cell activation. Up to now avoiding allergies and potential triggers has been the only way to prevent anaphylaxis.

For more details on this research check out the National Institutes of Health. 

Hopefully all the hard work these researchers put in not only leads to a better understanding but also to better treatments. All of which has the potential to really change the quality of countless peoples lives.





Sources:

* healthsci.mcmaster.ca/mcmaster-and-alk-researchers-discover-new-cell-that-remembers-allergies/
** www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/preventing-severe-allergic-reactions-nanoparticles
www.sciencedaily.com/news/health_medicine/allergy/
www.news-medical.net/?tag=/Food-Allergy