Mammalian airborne allergens.
Authors: Aalberse RC
Abstract
Historically, horse dandruff was a favorite allergen source material. Today, however, allergic symptoms due to airborne mammalian allergens are mostly a result of indoor exposure, be it at home, at work or even at school. The relevance of mammalian allergens in relation to the allergenic activity of house dust extract is briefly discussed in the historical context of two other proposed sources of house dust allergenic activity: mites and Maillard-type lysine-sugar conjugates. Mammalian proteins involved in allergic reactions to airborne dust are largely found in only 2 protein...
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
The latex story.
Authors: Raulf M
Abstract
The milky sap of the rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis is the source of the commercial production of natural rubber latex (NRL) devices, and also represents a source of potent allergenic proteins. NRL materials were introduced in the health care field in about 1840 with the advent of technical abilities to produce suitable and flexible NRL materials for medical products, especially gloves. In the late 1980s, with the increase of transmittable diseases, particularly HIV infection, the use of NRL gloves increased dramatically. During the 1990s, NRL emerged as a major cause of clinicall...
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
Peanut allergens.
Authors: Becker WM, Jappe U
Abstract
The earliest known evidence of peanut farming dates back 7,600 years. With a prevalence of roughly 1%, peanut allergy is a diagnostic and treatment challenge, but is also a very good model for studying all aspects of food allergy, including its molecular basis and pathomechanisms. Therefore, the very starting point for elucidating all these aspects is the identification of peanut allergens with subsequent clearing of their structure and their preparation as pure recombinant and/or natural allergens. This is the basis for in vitro diagnostic tests as well as the developm...
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
Environmental pollution and allergy: historical aspects.
Authors: Behrendt H, Alessandrini F, Buters J, Krämer U, Koren H, Ring J
Abstract
It may be a coincidence, but it is a fact that the first clear characterization of hay fever began in England where modern industrialization started in Europe. Only at the end of the 20th century were associations of the increasing prevalence of allergy with outdoor air pollution discussed. The seminal study came from Japan from the group of T. Miyamoto linking the increase in Japanese cedar pollinosis to an increased prevalence of Diesel cars and probably exposure to Diesel exhaust in epidemiological, animal experimental an...
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
Farmers and their environment: protective influences of the farming environment against the development of allergies.
Authors: Gassner M
Abstract
Compared with other population groups, the way of life of farmers can be viewed as being similar to that of our ancestors. The settled continuation of generations within certain critical geographical and environmental conditions requires a special local network of knowledge and experience. The immune system provides protection against microbes and their toxins. Each strong reaction impedes an active adaptation. Allergy is therefore a harmful intolerance and represents one of many different paradoxes. The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate some of the interactions of tolerance...
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
History of catecholamine research.
Authors: Starke K
Abstract
The prominence of catecholamines and their congeners in allergic diseases rests chiefly on their use in asthma and acute hypersensitivity reactions, such as anaphylaxis. They act in these indications by activating both α- and β-adrenoceptors. Adrenaline, the prototype, was discovered in the adrenals in 1893/1894. In 1939, dopa decarboxylase was the first enzyme in the biosynthesis of catecholamines to be described. Later other catecholamines like noradrenaline and dopamine were characterized. The identification of the active chemicals went along with studies regarding catechola...
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
Antihistamines.
Authors: Church MK, Maurer M
Abstract
The discovery of histamine, its physiological role and reversal of its pharmacological effects by antihistamines takes us on a journey through the origins of modern physiology and the rising understanding of pharmacology at the end of the 19th and the early part of the 20th centuries. This journey, which has been traced in the excellent historical review by Michael Emanuel [Clin Exp Allergy 1999;29:1-11], is populated by some of the greatest scientists of the era, including six Nobel laureates - Bovet, Dale, Ehrlich, Richet, Windaus and Black. In addition, it laid the ...
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
Glucocorticoids.
Authors: Barnes PJ
Abstract
Glucocorticoids are the most effective anti-inflammatory treatment for allergic diseases, and inhaled glucocorticoids have now become the first-line treatment for asthma. Glucocorticoids were discovered in the 1940s as extracts of the adrenal cortex and this was followed by the isolation of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from pituitary gland extracts. Cortisone and ACTH were found to be very beneficial in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and Kendall, Reichstein and Hench received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for this work in 1950. Bordley and colleagues fi...
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
Chromones.
Authors: Edwards AM
Abstract
The chromones are a class of chemical compounds characterised by the presence of the structure 5:6 benz-1:4-pyrone in their chemical make-up. The first chromone in clinical use, khellin, was extracted from the seeds of the plant Ammi visnaga, and had been used for centuries as a diuretic and as a smooth muscle relaxant. Its use in bronchial asthma was reported in 1947. In the 1950s, Benger's Laboratories embarked on a research programme to synthesise and develop modifications of khellin for the treatment of asthma. New compounds were screened using animal models to test the abi...
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
Characterization and standardization of allergen extracts.
Authors: Løwenstein H
Abstract
This paper summarizes the development of the extraction and characterization of allergens responsible for the induction of immunoglobulin (lg) E-induced allergies from the beginning of the 20th century, including the nomenclature of allergens. The majority of papers characterizing allergens and allergen extracts state that the lack of standardization of allergen extracts is the reason for the paper, and so it has been for more than 100 years. A natural part of that process might be the isolation of an allergen molecule and this starts the speculation of 'what makes that alle...
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
Allergen-specific immunotherapy.
Authors: Nelson HS, Norman PS
Abstract
Specific immunotherapy was introduced for the treatment of grass pollen-induced hay fever in 1911. The treatment was soon extended to other pollens as well as perennial allergens, and to the treatment of bronchial asthma. Definitive studies of its efficacy for both rhinitis and asthma came only many decades later. Understanding gradually emerged of the underlying immunologic mechanisms that include the generation of regulatory T lymphocytes, immune deviation from allergen-specific Th2 to Th1 responses, and a shift in allergen-specific antibody production from immunogl...
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
K. Frank Austen. Boston, Mass., USA.
Authors: Austen KF
PMID: 24925415 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy)
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
John Bienenstock. Hamilton, Ont., Canada.
Authors: Bienenstock J, Bergmann KC, Ring J
PMID: 24925416 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy)
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
Kurt Blaser. Davos, Switzerland.
Authors: Blaser K, Bergmann KC, Ring J
PMID: 24925417 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy)
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
Alain de Weck (1928-2013). Fribourg, Switzerland.
Authors: de Weck A, Bergmann KC, Ring J
PMID: 24925418 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy)
Source: Chemical Immunology and Allergy - December 2, 2014 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Chem Immunol Allergy Source Type: research
