The prevalence of allergic diseases such as allergic rhinitis, asthma, food allergy, and atopic dermatitis has increased dramatically during the last decades, which is associated with altered environmental exposures and lifestyle practices. The purpose of this review was to highlight the potential role for dietary fatty acids, in the prevention and management of these disorders. In addition to their nutritive value, fatty acids have important immunoregulatory effects. Fatty acid-associated biological mechanisms, human epidemiology, and intervention studies are summarized in this review.The influence of genetics and the microbiome on fatty acid metabolism is also discussed. Despite critical gaps in our current knowledge, it is increasingly apparent that dietary intake of fatty acids may influence the development of inflammatory and tolerogenic immune responses. However, the lack of standardized formats (ie, food versus supplement) and standardized doses, and frequently a lack of prestudy serum fatty acid level assessments in clinical studies significantly limit our ability to compare allergy outcomes across studies and to provide clear recommendations at this time.Future studies must address these limitations and individualized medical approaches should consider the inclusion of specific dietary factors for the prevention and management of asthma, food allergy, and atopic dermatitis. K E Y W O R D Sasthma, atopic dermatitis, food allergy, nutrition, rhinitis

In contrast with previous authors, Balb/c mice were sensitized and evidenced an allergic reaction after oral administrations of peanut or CMP plus CT, providing an interesting model for further studies on immunopathogenic mechanisms.

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The conformation of LTP1 appeared to have a strong impact on the type of IgE-binding epitopes elicited by this protein in both man and mouse. The responses in mice sensitized to gliadins or LTP1 were sufficiently comparable with the human response in terms of IgE-binding epitopes to provide support for the use of the mouse model in further investigations.

The low quantities of immunologically active allergens transferred through breast milk may prevent instead of priming allergic sensitization to peanut.

Ara h 1 aggregates formed by boiling were morphologically distinct from those formed by roasting and had lower allergenic activity. Glycation had no additional effect on Ara h 1 allergenicity compared with heating alone. Taken together with published data on the loss of Ara h 2/6 from boiled peanuts, this supports the hypothesis that boiling reduces the allergenicity of peanuts.

The bovine beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) is a major cow's milk allergen. Here, we evaluated the immune response against BLG induced in mice, using the organism Lactococcus lactis, which has GRAS ("generally regarded as safe") status, as a delivery vehicle. The cDNA of the blg gene, encoding BLG, was expressed and engineered for either intra-or extracellular expression in L. lactis. Using a constitutive promoter, the yield of intracellular recombinant BLG (rBLG) was about 20 ng per ml of culture. To increase the quantity of rBLG, the nisin-inducible expression system was used to produce rBLG in the cytoplasmic and extracellular locations. Although the majority of rBLG remained in the cytoplasm, the highest yield (2 g per ml of culture) was obtained with a secreting strain that encodes a fusion between a lactococcal signal peptide and rBLG. Whatever the expression system, the rBLG is produced mostly in a soluble, intracellular, and denatured form. The BLG-producing strains were then administered either orally or intranasally to mice, and the immune response to BLG was examined. Specific anti-BLG immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies were detected 3 weeks after the immunization protocol in the feces of mice immunized with the secreting lactococcal strain. Specific anti-BLG IgA detected in mice immunized with lactococci was higher than that obtained in mice immunized with the same quantity of pure BLG. No specific anti-BLG IgE, IgA, IgG1, or IgG2a was detected in sera of mice. These recombinant lactococcal strains constitute good vehicles to induce a mucosal immune response to a model allergen and to better understand the mechanism of allergy induced by BLG.The gastrointestinal tract is constantly exposed to substantial amounts of food and bacterial components. In the healthy gut, the immune system is able to create a balance between mucosal immunity and systemic tolerance. In food allergy, this balance is impaired and oral tolerance to dietary antigen is not achieved or maintained (14,19,29). Cow's milk allergy is an important problem in infants because it affects 1.9 to 2.8% of infants in the first 2 years of life in various countries of northern Europe (17, 18). Beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) is the most abundant protein of the whey fraction of milk and is regarded as a dominant allergen together with casein (37). In our laboratory, we use BLG as a model protein to evaluate and modulate the immune response to a food allergen in mice, and we have produced both anti-BLG monoclonal antibodies (MAb) (25) and recombinant BLG in Escherichia coli (8). Moreover, the BLG structure is well documented (27); it is a 162-aminoacid globular protein which contains two intramolecular disulfide bonds. In this study, we produced BLG in Lactococcus lactis, a food-grade bacterium, and used these recombinant strains to measure a potential specific immune response after intranasal or oral administration in mice.L. lactis is a gram-positive lactic acid bacterium that is nonpathogenic, noninvasive, and noncolonizing and that has GRAS ("generally regar...