Mechanisms of food allergy

Hugh A. Sampson, Liam O'Mahony, A. Wesley Burks, Marshall Plaut, Gideon Lack, Cezmi A. Akdis

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    232 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Although oral tolerance is the normal physiologic response to ingested antigens, a breakdown in this process appears to have occurred in the past 2 decades, leading to an increasing prevalence of sensitization to food allergens. Over the past decade, basic research has intensified in an attempt to better understand the mechanisms leading to sensitization and disease versus desensitization and short- and long-term tolerance. In this review we assess various factors that can influence tissue and immune responses to food antigens, the current understanding of immune tolerance development, the role of the gastrointestinal microbiota, and current knowledge regarding immunologic mechanisms involved in desensitization and sustained unresponsiveness, although perhaps the latter is more appropriately termed remission.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)11-19
    Number of pages9
    JournalJournal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
    Volume141
    Issue number1
    Early online date4 Jan 2018
    DOIs
    Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 4 Jan 2018

    Keywords

    • Food allergy
    • sensitization
    • tolerance
    • desensitization
    • sustained unresponsiveness
    • remission
    • allergen immunotherapy
    • microbiota

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