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Allergy 2019 Apr 21. Epub 2019 Apr 21.

Laboratory for Allergic Disease, Yokohama, 230-0045, Japan.

Allergy 2019 Apr 21. Epub 2019 Apr 21.

Department of Dermatology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China, 510120.

Allergy 2019 Apr 21. Epub 2019 Apr 21.

Departments of Pediatrics and Child Health, University of Manitoba, Canada.

Allergy 2019 Apr 21. Epub 2019 Apr 21.

Comparative Medicine, The interuniversity Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, A-1210, Vienna, Austria.

The present patent relates to the use of bioadhesive, biodegradable poly-lacto-glycolic (PLGA) microparticles for allergen immunotherapy. Surface modification of allergen-loaded microspheres with Aleuria aurantia lectin causes selective enrichment, prolongation of the dwell time and uptake via mucosal M cells overlying the lymph nodes e.g. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 21. Epub 2019 Apr 21.

Departament of Parasitology, Microbiology and Immunology, Institut of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil.

Allergy 2019 Apr 21. Epub 2019 Apr 21.

de Duve Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.

Allergy 2019 Apr 21. Epub 2019 Apr 21.

Atopy (Allergy) Research Center, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.

Allergy 2019 Apr 20. Epub 2019 Apr 20.

Department of Respiratory Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Centres, (AUMC), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

More than a decade has passed since the finalisation of the Human Genome Project. Omics technologies made a huge leap from trendy and very expensive to routinely executed and relatively cheap assays. Simultaneously, we understood that omics is not a panacea for every problem in the area of human health and personalized medicine. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 20. Epub 2019 Apr 20.

Aix-Marseille Université, IRD, APHM, MEPHI, IHU-Méditerranée Infection, MEPHI, Marseille, France.

Allergy 2019 Apr 20. Epub 2019 Apr 20.

Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Robert-Rössle-Strasse 10, 13125, Berlin, Germany.

Allergy 2019 Apr 20. Epub 2019 Apr 20.

National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, Dovehouse Street, London.

The ARIA-GA2LEN collaboration published a guide for the design and evaluation of randomised controlled trials of allergen immunotherapy for allergic rhinitis. Several problems in were identified. For example, the severity/persistence of seasonal symptoms in subjects during allergen immunotherapy was noted to be much lower than in trials of pharmacotherapy. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 19. Epub 2019 Apr 19.

Stanford University, Stanford, CA.

Allergy 2019 Apr 16. Epub 2019 Apr 16.

Upper Airway Research Laboratory, Ghent University Hospital, Dep. of Otorhinolaryngology, Ghent, Belgium.

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a disease affecting more than 10% of the European population, causing symptoms and impacting quality of life. CRS is classically differentiated into disease without and with nasal polyps (CRSsNP, CRSwNP) based on clinical signs, specifically using nasal endoscopy for diagnosis (1). However, the differentiation into phenotypes allows to conclude on dominant remodelling patterns (fibrosis in CRSsNP or oedema and polyp formation in CRSwNP), but does only partly predict the natural course of disease; phenotypes do not adequately appreciate the current discussion about different surgical approaches or innovative biologics. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 16. Epub 2019 Apr 16.

Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), Davos, Switzerland.

Background: Many skin and mucosal inflammatory disorders, such as atopic dermatitis, have been associated with an impaired epithelial barrier function, which allows allergens, pollutants or microbes to enter the tissue and activate the immune response. The aim of this study was to establish a method to directly assess in vivo the epidermal barrier function by electrical impedance (EI) spectroscopy.

Methods: Mice epidermal barrier was damaged by epicutaneous application of proteases and cholera toxin and by tape stripping. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 15. Epub 2019 Apr 15.

Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Centre for Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Background: Building on previous psychometric work, we sought to assess the Patient Needs in Asthma Treatment (NEAT) questionnaire's validity, responsiveness to change and the minimal important change (MIC) over a 3-year period (Study 1) and its reliability and the smallest detectable change (SDC) in a test-retest-study (Study 2) among patients self-reporting physician-diagnosed asthma.

Methods: In Study 1, a total of 207 patients completed a survey which included the NEAT, the Asthma Control Test (ACT), the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire-Sydney (AQLQ-S) and a question on treatment satisfaction in 2014 and 2017. In Study 2, a total of 78 patients completed NEAT twice on average four weeks apart in 2018. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 14. Epub 2019 Apr 14.

The Affiliated Luohu Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Luohu Hospital Group, Shenzhen, China.

Background: Environmental pollutants, which coexist with allergens, have been associated with the exacerbation of asthma. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. We sought to determine whether benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) co-exposure with dermatophagoides group 1 allergen (Der f 1) can potentiate Der f 1-induced asthma and its underlying mechanisms. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 10. Epub 2019 Apr 10.

Child Life and Health and Centre for Inflammation Research, The Queen's Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

Eosinophils represent one of the most studied cells in the development and pathophysiology of various immune mediated disorders and conditions. Moreover, they serve as important biomarkers (diagnostic, therapy-driving, prognostic) in daily allergy praxis and can be affected by several therapeutic interventions. Eosinophils differentiate from a pluripotent progenitor under the influence of several cytokines and growth factors. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 11. Epub 2019 Apr 11.

Mozartpraxis, Paediatric Respiratory and Allergy Outpatient Practice, Graz, Austria.

Diagnosis of Hymenoptera venom allergy (HVA) is straightforward in the majority of patients, but can be challenging in double positive and test negative patients. Test results sometimes can be confusing as patients with high skin test reactivity and high specific IgE (sIgE) levels are not at risk for severe systemic sting reactions (SSR), and conversely, patients with weakly positive or even negative tests can experience severe SSR. Venom immunotherapy (VIT) is safe, highly effective and recommended in patients with moderate to severe SSR and in patients with SSR confined to generalized skin symptoms if quality of life is impaired. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 11. Epub 2019 Apr 11.

Université Paris-Est Créteil, Créteil, France.

Allergy 2019 Apr 11. Epub 2019 Apr 11.

Barwon Health, Victoria, Geelong, Australia, 3220.

Background: In previous studies, deficits in regulatory T-cell (Treg) number and function at birth have been linked with subsequent allergic disease. However longitudinal studies, that account for relevant perinatal factors, are required. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perinatal factors, naïve Treg (nTreg) over the first postnatal year, and development of food allergy. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 11. Epub 2019 Apr 11.

Institut für Lungenbiologie (iLBD), Translationszentrum für Lungenforschung (CPC), Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Ingolstaedter Landstr. 1, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany.

The vitamin D world is deeply split about the clinical usefulness of serum vitamin D (25-OH-D ) measurements. Basic discoveries of vitamin D research provided stunning results while clinical and epidemiological research resulted in a barrel of misunderstandings and contradictions. Vitamin D is easy to measure but the results are difficult to interpret. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 9. Epub 2019 Apr 9.

Institute of Dermatology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Nanjing, 210042, P. R. China.

Background: Epicutaneous sensitization is an important route of immunization for allergens in atopic diseases; however, studies have also shown that application with protein on intact skin induces antigen-specific tolerance. Langerhans cells (LCs) play an immunosuppressive role in several inflammatory skin diseases and mouse models, and the role of LCs in the skin-induced tolerance is not fully understood.

Methods: Langerin-DTA mice that were deficient in LCs were utilized to produce the model of skin-induced tolerance to ovalbumin (OVA). Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 9. Epub 2019 Apr 9.

Department of Pediatrics, British Columbia Children's Hospital, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Imbalance, or dysbiosis, of the gut microbiome of infants has been linked to an increased risk of asthma and allergic diseases. Most studies to date have provided a wealth of data showing correlations between early-life risk factors for disease and changes in the structure of the gut microbiome that disrupt normal immunoregulation. These studies have typically focused on one specific risk factor, such as mode of delivery or early-life antibiotic use. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 9. Epub 2019 Apr 9.

Education and Research Center for Community Medicine, Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.

Periostin is a matricellular protein as well as an extracellular matrix (ECM) protein belonging to the fasciclin family. Periostin plays important roles as a matricellular protein in the setting of allergic diseases by binding to several integrins on various cells. Since periostin is induced mainly by IL-4 and IL-13, signature type 2 cytokines, and it is highly expressed in the subepithelial regions of many chronic allergic diseases, periostin has emerged as a novel biomarker reflecting type 2 inflammation in allergic diseases. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 9. Epub 2019 Apr 9.

Allergy Unit, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

Perioperative immediate hypersensitivity reactions are rare. Subsequent allergy investigation is complicated by multiple simultaneous drug exposures, the use of drugs with potent effects and the many differential diagnoses to hypersensitivity in the perioperative setting. The approach to the investigation of these complex reactions is not standardized and it is becoming increasingly apparent that collaboration between experts in the field of allergy/immunology/dermatology and anaesthesiology is needed to provide the best possible care for these patients. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 9. Epub 2019 Apr 9.

Breast Cancer Now Research Unit, School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, Guy's Cancer Centre, London, United Kingdom.

Allergy 2019 Apr 9. Epub 2019 Apr 9.

Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

The term allergy was coined in 1906 by the Austrian scientist and paediatrician Clemens Freiherr von Pirquet, head of the Department of Paediatrics in Vienna from 1912 to 1929. His successor, Franz Hamburger, obliterated all references to Pirquet, especially the term allergy, creating a large gap in allergy research until the 1960s. The University of Vienna Dermatology and ENT departments performed skin prick tests and hyposensitizations well into the late 1970s, but no basic scientific research was done. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 9. Epub 2019 Apr 9.

Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.

Professor Stephen J. Galli's rigorous and innovative research in the field of allergy and immunology has truly made him a legend in the field. His accomplishments are many as are the awards and recognitions he has received. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 7. Epub 2019 Apr 7.

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Uniersität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Comprehensive Allergy-Centre, Department of Dermatology and Allergy, member of GA2LEN, Berlin, Germany.

Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is a proven therapeutic option for the treatment of allergic rhinitis and/or asthma. Many guidelines or national practice guidelines have been produced but the evidence-based method varies, many are complex and none propose care pathways. This paper reviews care pathways for AIT using strict criteria and provides simple recommendations that can be used by all stakeholders including health professionals. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 6. Epub 2019 Apr 6.

Formerly professor of Occupational Medicine, University of Perugia, Italy.

Occupational exposure to foods is responsible for up to 25% of cases of occupational asthma and rhinitis. Animal and vegetable high-molecular weight proteins present in aerosolized foods during food processing, additives, preservatives, antioxidants and food contaminants are the main inhalant allergen sources. Most agents typically cause IgE-mediated allergic reactions, causing a distinct form of food allergy (Class 3 food allergy). Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 6. Epub 2019 Apr 6.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Effects Laboratory, Division Morgantown, WV, USA.

Industrial sensitizing agents (allergens) in living and working environments play an important role in eliciting type I allergic disorders including asthma and allergic rhinitis. Successful management of allergic diseases necessitates identifying their specific causes (i.e. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 6. Epub 2019 Apr 6.

Center of Allergy and Environment (ZAUM), Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Center Munich, Member of the German Center of Lung Research (DZL), Munich, Germany.

Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) is the only disease-modifying and curative treatment for allergic diseases. While in selected indications such as Hymenoptera venom allergy the curative success of AIT is impressingly high, in other disease manifestations it only reduces the symptoms to a certain extend in a fraction of patients. Key problems leading to a reduced efficacy of AIT seem to partly depend on local inflammatory processes that are not only causing side-effects, but additionally feed-back on the specific immune response. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 6. Epub 2019 Apr 6.

Allergy and Clinical Immunology Research Group, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Inflammation, structural and functional abnormalities within the airways are key features of asthma. Although these processes are well-documented, their expression varies across the heterogeneous spectrum of asthma. Type 2 inflammatory responses are characterized by increased levels of eosinophils, FeNO and type 2 cytokines in blood and/or airways. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 3. Epub 2019 Apr 3.

RNSA (Réseau National de Surveillance Aérobiologique), Brussieu, France.

Background: Google Trends (GT), a Web-based surveillance tool, explores the searching trends of specific queries via Google and is proposed to reflect the real-life epidemiology of allergic rhinitis and asthma. However, the validation of GTs against pollen concentrations is missing at the country level.

Objectives: In the present study, we used GTs (i) to compare the terms related to allergy in France, (ii) to assess seasonal variations across the country for five years and (iii) to compare GTs and pollen concentrations for 2016. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 2. Epub 2019 Apr 2.

School of Medicine, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is one of the most common skin diseases with a multifactorial etiology. Mutations leading to loss of skin barrier function are associated with the development of AD with group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) promoting acute skin inflammation. Filaggrin-mutant (Flg ) mice develop spontaneous skin inflammation accompanied by an increase in skin ILC2 numbers, IL-1β production, and other cytokines recapitulating human AD. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 1. Epub 2019 Apr 1.

Depts. Respiratory Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Background: Activated eosinophils cause major pathology in stable and exacerbating asthma, however, they can also display protective properties like an extracellular anti-viral activity. Initial murine studies led us to further explore a potential intracellular anti-viral activity by eosinophils.

Methods: To follow eosinophil-virus interaction, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza virus were labeled with a fluorescent lipophilic dye (DiD). Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr 1. Epub 2019 Apr 1.

Department of Public Health, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Background: Exposure to high levels of pollen in infancy is a risk factor for allergic respiratory diseases in later childhood, but effects on lung function are not fully understood. We aim to examine associations between grass pollen exposure in the first months of life and lung function at 12 and 18 years, and explore potential modification.

Methods: Using the Melbourne Atopy Cohort Study, a birth cohort of children with a family history of allergic diseases, we modeled the association between cumulative grass pollen exposure up to 3 months after birth, on FEV , FVC, and FEV /FVC ratio at 12 and 18 years. Read More

Allergy 2019 Apr;74(4):645-649

Allergy 2019 Mar 29. Epub 2019 Mar 29.

Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, St. Joseph's Healthcare, Divisions of Respirology and Clinical Immunology & Allergy, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.

Anthony Barrington (Barry) Kay PhD, DSc; FRCPE, FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci; FRSE, grew up in Northamptonshire, England and was educated at the University of Edinburgh (MD) and the University of Cambridge (PhD). He trained under the guidance of earlier Legends in the field, including Robin Coombs (Cambridge) and K. Frank Austen (Harvard). Read More

Allergy 2019 Mar 28. Epub 2019 Mar 28.

Alkan consulting, Mittlere strasse 8, Basel, 4056, Switzerland.

If you watch Georges Köhler's 1984 Nobel lecture on monoclonal antibodies (mAb) you hear a lot about myelomas, cell fusion, hybridomas, transgenetics, chain loss, insertions, deletions, heavy chain toxicity, allelic exclusion and very little on mAbs.This should not come as a surprise, because as a basic scientist Georges Köhler's ambition was to understand the assembly of heavy and light chains to form a specific antibody and not specifically to generate mAbs. This does not mean the discovery of mAbs was accidental. Read More

Allergy 2019 Mar 27. Epub 2019 Mar 27.

Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Otorhinolarynogology, Amsterdam.

Management algorithms are traditionally based on phenotypes of disease. In chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) the most predominant phenotyping has been of the division between "with nasal polyps" (CRSwNP) and "without nasal polyps (CRSsNP) (1). A significant proportion of the available evidence has focussed on this division (1). Read More

Allergy 2019 Mar 27. Epub 2019 Mar 27.

Institute of Immunobiology, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Rolf M. Zinkernagel was born in 1944 and grew up in the town Riehen close to Basel as one of three children. His father was a biologist working in the pharmaceutical industry and his mother was employed as a lab technician. Read More

Allergy 2019 Mar 25. Epub 2019 Mar 25.

HAE Centre Denmark, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.

Allergy 2019 Mar 25. Epub 2019 Mar 25.

In-Office Cytometry, Woodstock, GA, USA.

Allergy 2019 Mar 23. Epub 2019 Mar 23.

Department of Dermatology, Shimada Municipal Hospital, 1200-5Noda, Shimada, 427-8502, Japan.

Allergy 2019 Mar 21. Epub 2019 Mar 21.

Nestlé Health Science, Vevey, Switzerland.

Allergy 2019 Mar 21. Epub 2019 Mar 21.

Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea.

Allergy 2019 Mar 21. Epub 2019 Mar 21.

Translational Research Center for Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), Department of Chronic Diseases, Metabolism and Ageing (CHROMETA), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Background: The vagus nerve has emerged as an important modulator of the intestinal immune system. Its anti-inflammatory properties have been previously shown in innate and Th1/Th17 predominant inflammatory models. To what extent the vagus nerve is of importance in Th2 inflammatory responses like food allergy is still unclear. Read More

Allergy 2019 Mar 20. Epub 2019 Mar 20.

Stanford University, Pediatrics, Stanford, California, United States.

The current edition of Allergy contains a report of 18 food allergy deaths from the French Anaphylaxis Vigilance Network (AVN) from 2002-2018 . The AVN maintains a database of food allergy related severe anaphylaxis formed of voluntary, structured reports of anonymous patients submitted by allergists. Therefore, no population estimates can be made, but important cases can be revealed. Read More

Allergy 2019 Mar 19. Epub 2019 Mar 19.

Laboratory of Host Defense, The World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.

Innate immune system quickly responds to invasion of microbes and foreign substances through the extracellular and intracellular sensing receptors, which recognize distinctive molecular and structural patterns. The recognition of innate immune receptors leads to the induction of inflammatory and adaptive immune responses by activating downstream signaling pathways. Allergy is an immune-related disease and results from a hypersensitive immune response to harmless substances in the environment. Read More