14 DAY TRIAL // A team of scientists working with the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research think they might have found a cure for allergies or at least pinned down the biological mechanism that need be accessed in order to gain control of such sensitivities to environmental cues.
The specialists, together with collaborators at the Stanford University, the University of Tokyo and the RIKEN Research Institute, detail their findings in a report published earlier this week in the science journal Immunity.
The key is preventing the body from overreacting
Allergies occur when the body generates an immune overreaction in response to a perfectly harmless substance, be it pollen, fur, dust or certain foods.
Previous studies have shown that so-called mast cells play a crucial role in triggering allergic reaction, Medical Express informs. Thus, researchers say that, when the body is exposed to allergens, these cells produce copious amounts of compounds that, in turn, lead to inflammatory processes.
Apparently, mast cells are kind of, sort of like a biological Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. True, they are involved in allergic reactions, but they also release a specific substance, i.e. interleukin-2, which goes on to trigger the production of good immune cells dubbed T-regulatory (Treg) cells.
These Treg cells can act on allergic inflammatory processes in the airways and suppress them. In doing so, they can help stop the allergic reaction in its track.
It's Treg cells that hold the key to fighting allergies
While the scientific community has for some time now been aware of the fact that Treg cells can subdue excessive immune responses, the problem has been obtaining enough of them to develop a treatment for allergies.
In their report in the journal Immunity, the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research specialists and their colleagues say that, using mast cells and the interleukin-2 they produce as a starting point, it is possible to engineer swarms of Treg cells quite effortlessly.
Then, these Tregg cells can be used to fight immune overreactions and keep allergies on a tight leash. Essentially, the specialists think Tregg cells can be used to train the body not to overreact when confronted with allergens.
“The mechanism that we discovered, could be the basis for a new way to handle allergies,” study leader Hideaki Morita commented on this study and its findings in a statement.