Allergies occur because our immune system defends itself, convinced that actually harmless substances are attacking us. In question, the cells producing immunoglobulin E (IgE) which studies have shown that they could be regulated … in mice. It remains to find where these cells are located in the human body and how to act on their production of IgE.
This can be mild symptoms, such as a runny nose or itchy eyes, it can be hay fever which is already more disabling, it can also result in very aggressive inflammation such as anaphylaxis: these are allergies, disproportionate reactions of our immune system. These reactions are caused by the production of Immunoglobulin E (IgE). An Australian researcher, Pablo Canete, went in search of cells producing IgE, certain of finding at the end of this track the means of acting against allergies by modulating this production of IgE.
Focus on the tonsil region
The cells that allow this modulation have already been observed … in mice. Pablo Canete therefore sought their equivalent in humans, focusing on the tonsil region. The search proved more difficult than expected by Canete. He told IFLScience: “The human cell looks very different from the mouse counterpart, it doesn’t have the master gene regulator that exists in the mouse”, underlined Pablo Canete who nevertheless managed to describe a sub -set of T cells in the tonsils that suppress IgE, work published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
“If we can find them in the blood, it will make our work a lot easier, Pablo Canete told IFLScience, given the barriers to accessing tonsil samples.”
Means of acting other than antihistamines
His research could lead to finding new means of action againstand allergies, whether to control or treat them, other than antihistamines. The track followed is to identify the molecules produced by these cells, but without going so far as to suppress their capacity to produce IgE which are necessary against the real threats aimed at our organisms.
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