Background
Food anaphylaxis is triggered by specific IgE antibodies. Paradoxically, some individuals with significant IgE levels can ingest allergenic foods without incident. Similarly, subjects completing oral immunotherapy (OIT) tolerate food challenges despite persistent high-titer food-specific IgE.
Objective
To test whether IgG antibodies induced by food immunotherapy prevent food-induced anaphylaxis, and whether this occurs via the inhibitory receptor FcγRIIb.
Methods
Food allergy-susceptible Il4raF709 mice were enterally sensitized to ovalbumin (OVA). Similarly sensitized IgE-deficient Il4raF709/IgE−/− mice, which can ingest OVA without anaphylaxis, were subjected to a high-dose enteral OVA desensitization protocol (OIT). Sera from both groups were tested for the ability to activate or inhibit bone marrow mast cells (BMMC) exposed to allergen, or to passively transfer allergy to naïve hosts. In parallel experiments, sera obtained from peanut allergic patients before and after undergoing OIT were interrogated for their ability to enhance or suppress peanut-induced activation in an indirect assay using basophils from non-allergic donors.
Results
Il4raF709 mice exhibited strong OVA-specific IgE responses. Their sera efficiently sensitized BMMC for activation by antigen challenge. Sera from Il4raF709/IgE−/− mice subjected to OVA OIT suppressed BMMC responses. This inhibition was IgG-mediated and FcγRIIb-dependent. Similarly, pre-OIT, but not post-OIT sera from patients efficiently sensitized basophils for peanut-induced activation. IgG antibodies in post-OIT sera suppressed basophil activation by pre-OIT sera. This inhibition was blocked by antibodies against FcγRII.
Conclusion
Food-specific IgG antibodies, such as those induced during OIT, inhibit IgE-mediated reactions. Strategies that favor IgG responses might prove useful in the management of food allergy.
Chemokines are a burgeoning family of chemotactic cytokines displaying a broad array of functions such as regulation of homeostatic leukocyte traffic and development, as well as activating the innate immune system. Their role in controlling early and late inflammatory stages is now well recognized. An improper balance either in chemokine synthesis or chemokine receptor expression contributes to various pathological disorders making chemokines and their receptors a useful therapeutic target. Research in this area is progressing rapidly, and development of novel agents based on chemokine/chemokine receptors antagonist functions are emerging as attractive alternative drugs. Some of these novel agents include generation of chemokine-derived peptides (CDP) with potential agonist and antagonist effects on inflammation, cancer and against bacterial infections. CDP have been generated mainly from N- and C-terminus chemokine sequences with subsequent modifications such as truncations or elongations. In this review, we present a glimpse of the different pharmacological actions reported for CDP and our current understanding regarding the potential use of CDP alone or as part of the novel therapies proposed in the treatment of microbial infections and cancer.
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