Media Advisory

Thursday, August 1, 2019

An NIH-funded study suggests that targeting a cell could help prevent anaphylaxis in humans.

What

Allergies can be life threatening when they cause anaphylaxis, an extreme reaction with a constriction of the airways and a sudden drop in blood pressure. Scientists have identified a subtype of immune cell responsible for the production of antibodies badociated with anaphylaxis and other allergic reactions. The research was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, and reveals a potential target for new treatments to prevent serious allergic reactions. The results are published online today in the journal Science.

Researchers at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, the Jackson Genomic Medicine Laboratory in Farmington, Connecticut, and their collaborators discovered a T cell subtype, called the T13 follicular helper cell, or Tfh13 cells, in laboratory mouse immune genetic disease called DOCK8 immunodeficiency syndrome. In humans, DOCK8 deficiency causes recurrent viral infections of the skin and respiratory system as well as severe allergies and asthma.

Allergies and anaphylaxis are related to the production of high affinity IgE antibodies, which bind strongly to allergens to cause allergic reactions. The researchers found that mice with DOCK8 deficiency had new T helper cells, not found in normal mice, which produced a unique combination of chemical messengers called cytokines.

They then took mice with a normal immune system and sensitized them with respiratory and food allergens to induce severe allergic reactions leading to anaphylaxis. While the non-allergic mice lacked Tfh13 cells, the allergic mice had both Tfh13 cells and high affinity IgE. Through genetic manipulation, scientists have prevented the development of Tfh13 cells in mice and found that animals did not manufacture anaphylactic IgE in the presence of allergens. To transfer this idea to humans, they then compared blood samples from people allergic to peanuts or the respiratory tract to those of non-allergic volunteers and found that allergy sufferers and badociated IgE had high levels of Tfh13 cells.

The authors of the study conclude that Tfh13 cells are responsible for directing antibody-producing B cells to create high affinity IgE and that Tfh13 cells may be needed in case of allergic disease, including # 39; anaphylaxis. According to them, the targeting of Tfh13 cells could represent a new strategy for the prevention or treatment of allergic diseases. Such a strategy would probably not replace the life – threatening epinephrine in case of anaphylaxis, but therapies targeting Tfh13 cells could prevent the onset of anaphylaxis when it 's time. an allergic person is exposed to an allergen.

article

U Gowthaman et al. Identification of a subset of T helper follicular cells that result in anaphylactic IgE. Science DOI: 10.1126 / science.aaw6433 (2019).

who

Lisa Wheatley, M.D., M.P.H., Head of the Respiratory Biology and Asthma Section of the Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation Division of NIAID, is available for comment.

This press release describes basic research. Basic research increases our understanding of human behavior and biology, which is fundamental to advancing new and improved methods of disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Science is an unpredictable and progressive process – every breakthrough in research builds on past discoveries, often unexpectedly. Most clinical progress would not be possible without the knowledge of basic fundamental research.

NIAID conducts and supports research – at NIH, in the United States, and around the world – to investigate the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases and to develop better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat these diseases. NIAID press releases, fact sheets and other documents are available on the NIAID website.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
The NIH, the country's medical research agency, has 27 institutes and centers and is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the lead federal agency that leads and supports basic, clinical and translational medical research. She studies causes, treatments and cures for common and rare diseases. For more information on NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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