Dramatically decreased T cell responses but persistent IgE upon reduced pollen exposure

IgE Enhances Antibody and T Cell Responses

"Allergen engineering": variants of the timothy grass pollen allergen Phl p 5b with reduced IgE-binding capacity but conserved T cell reactivity.

One problem of conventional allergen-specific immunotherapy is the risk of anaphylactic reactions. A new approach to make immunotherapy safer and more efficient might be the application of engineered allergens with reduced IgE-binding capacity but retained T cell reactivity. Using overlapping dodeca-peptides, the dominant T cell epitopes of the timothy grass pollen allergen Phl p 5b were identi...

B cell-intrinsic MyD88 signaling is essential for IgE responses in lungs exposed to pollen allergens.

Allergen-specific IgE is linked to asthma pathogenesis, but the underlying mechanisms of IgE production in response to allergen exposure are poorly understood. In this article, we show that B cell-intrinsic MyD88 is essential for IgE/IgG1 production evoked by ragweed pollen instilled into lungs. MyD88-deficient mice showed defective IgE/IgG1 production and germinal center responses to lung inst...

Pollen immunotherapy inhibits T helper 1 and 2 cell responses, but suppression of T helper 2 cell response is a more important mechanism related to the clinical efficacy.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the allergen-induced IgE synthesis and cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis due to Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) pollens and to elucidate the immunological mechanisms related to the clinical efficacy of immunotherapy (IT) for seasonal allergic rhinitis. DESIGN This study included 51 patients w...

Dramatically decreased cocaine self-administration in dopamine but not serotonin transporter knock-out mice.

There has been much interest in the relative importance of dopamine and serotonin transporters in the abuse-related-effects of cocaine. We tested the hypotheses that mice lacking the dopamine transporter (DAT(-/-)), the serotonin transporter (SERT(-/-)), or both (DAT(-/-)SERT(-/-)) exhibit decreased reinforcing effects of cocaine. We also assessed whether observed effects on self-administration...