The contribution of biotechnology toward progress in diagnosis, management, and treatment of allergic diseases

Abstract

Abstract'Biotechnology' has been intuitively used by humans since thousands of years for the production of foods, beverages, and drugs based on the experience without any scientific background. However, the golden era of this discipline emerged only during the second half of the last century. Incredible progresses have been achieved on all fields starting from the industrialization of the production of foods to the discovery of antibiotics, the decipherment of the genetic code, and rational approaches to understand and define the status we now call 'healthy'. The extremely complex interactions between genetic background, life style, and environmental factors influencing our continuously increasing life span have become more and more evident and steadily generate new questions which are only partly answered. Here, we try to summarize the contribution of biotechnology to our understanding, control, and cure of IgE-mediated allergic diseases. We are aware that a review of such a vast topic can never cover all aspects of the progress achieved in the different fields.

Mechanisms of immune regulation in allergic diseases: the role of regulatory T and B cells

“…Up to date, AIT remains as the single disease‐modifying treatment for allergic diseases with potential curative capacity. The advances experienced in biotechnology over the last decades have allowed the design and study of many different adjuvants for their potential use in AIT. Most of these adjuvants have been already validated in mouse models of allergy and some of them also in humans.…”

Identification and characterization of ovary development‐related protein EJO1 (Eri s 2) from the ovary of Eriocheir sinensis as a new food allergen

“…The use of high quality recombinant allergens rather than natural allergens could help standardize allergen preparations, thereby improving the sensitivity and effectiveness of the sIgE test [39][40][41] and ensuring the reliability and accuracy of CRD [42]. Ultimately, this could also advance desensitization therapy [43][44][45][46]. Therefore, identification of the specific components that cause symptoms in crab allergy is critical, since allergen identification provides a basis for allergy testing and treatment.…”

IgE‐associated allergic disorders: recent advances in etiology, diagnosis, and treatment

“…Over the last decades, diagnostic tests for the identification and the monitoring of allergic disorders have remarkably improved (Table ). Advances in the standardization of allergen extracts and in the production of recombinant allergens have made this development possible and certainly contributed to the increased prevalence of allergic disorders due to better detection . Compared to other fields, the diagnostic tools to identify allergic conditions are still relatively scarce.…”

“…On the other hand, the lack of regulations has led to the production of unstandardized products on which physicians often have to rely . Preparation, extraction, protease content, and storage conditions strongly affect the final potency of an allergen mixture, which has direct consequences on the outcome of the diagnostic tests . Therefore, standardizations and regulations are urgently required .…”