RATIONALE Nasal allergen provocations may be useful in investigating the pathophysiology of allergic rhinitis and effects of treatments. OBJECTIVE To use grass pollen nasal allergen challenge (NAC) to investigate the effects of allergen immunotherapy in a cross-sectional study. METHODS We studied nasal and cutaneous responses in untreated subjects with seasonal grass-pollen allergic rhiniti...

Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) is the only treatment of IgE-mediated allergies so far that has a sustained effect on clinical symptoms and can modify the course of the disease. It is an allergen-specific treatment and therefore requires the correct identification of the disease-causing allergens. Furthermore, AIT is a time-consuming treatment for which the efficacy is dependent on severa...

Allergen-specific CD4+ T lymphocytes are activated at extremely low allergen concentrations in vivo as a result of serum-facilitated allergen presentation (S-FAP). It is not clear at present if specific allergy vaccination (SAV) has an effect on this mechanism. Here we show that birch allergen-specific serum-IgE facilitates the presentation of Bet v 1, the major birch pollen allergen, to Bet v ...

Allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT) offers a disease specific causative treatment by modifying the allergen-specific immune response allowing tolerance to higher doses of allergen and preventing progression of allergic diseases. It may be considered in patients allergic to furry animals. Current mammalian allergy vaccines are still prepared from relatively poorly defined allergen extracts and...

Several studies have shown that interleukin (IL)-13 is induced in the esophageal biopsies of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) patients and promotes esophageal eosinophilia in mice, following an IL-13 challenge. However, the role of IL-13 has not been clearly investigated in allergen-induced EoE. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that IL-13 is required in allergen-induced EoE. Mice deficient i...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Cat allergen concentrations higher than 8 μg/g in settled house dust, have been suggested to provoke exacerbation of allergic respiratory symptoms. However, whether the 8 μg/g of indoor cat allergen concentration is indeed the minimal exposure required for triggering the asthma related respiratory symptoms or the development of sensitization has not yet been confirmed. ...

Food allergy appears to be on the rise with the current mainstay of treatment centred on allergen avoidance. Mandatory allergen labelling has improved the safety of food for allergic consumers. However an additional form of voluntary labelling (termed precautionary allergen labelling) has evolved on a wide range of packaged goods, in a bid by manufacturers to minimise risk to customers, and the...

Atopic allergic asthma is characterized by activation of Th2-type T cells in the bronchial mucosa. Previous reports have suggested an important role for costimulation through the CD28/CTLA4-CD80/CD86 pathway in allergen activation of T cells in animal models of inhaled allergen challenge. However, human allergen-specific lines and clones were reported to be costimulation independent. We therefo...

The leukotrienes, a group of oxidative metabolites of arachidonic acid, have potent pharmacological actions on human airways. We have investigated the effects of a leukotriene synthesis inhibitor, piriprost (U-60, 257) administered by inhalation on allergen and exercise induced bronchoconstriction in 12 subjects with allergic asthma. Subjects underwent diagnostic challenges with allergen and tr...

BACKGROUND Glucocorticoids (GCs) play a key role in the treatment of allergy. However, the genome-wide effects of GCs on gene expression in allergen-challenged CD4(+) T cells have not been described. The aim of this study was to perform a genome-wide analysis to investigate whether allergen-induced gene expression changes in CD4(+) T cells could be reversed by GCs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDI...