Effects of allergens on dendritic cell function in allergic asthma

近几十年来，哮喘等过敏性疾病的患病率增加了近三倍。虽然这些疾病患病率上升的原因尚不清楚，但我们怀疑，免疫系统对环境中外来蛋白质的反应方式可能对确定个人是否患上过敏性疾病非常重要。过敏性哮喘患者如何以及为什么对吸入少量看似无害的蛋白质(过敏原)做出过度和不适当的反应是呼吸医学和过敏领域的一个中心问题。我们认为，研究抗原提呈树突状细胞(DC)对变应原的直接反应方式将对这一问题提供重要的启示，因为DC是我们处理外来抗原和产生适当免疫反应能力的基础。支持这一建议的总体假设是，过敏原在过敏性哮喘患者的DC中诱导特异性反应，这有助于维持和放大这种疾病中的过敏性组织炎症。了解DC对临床相关变应原的反应方式将有助于了解过敏性哮喘的发病机制。这个项目是去年建议资助的，但当去年拨款的前合作调查人员之一获得项目拨款时，该项目被放弃了。

In recent decades, there has been a nearly three-fold increase in the prevalence of allergic diseases such as asthma. Although the reason these diseases have increased in prevalence remains unknown, we suspect the way in which the immune system responds to foreign proteins in the environment may be very important in determining whether an individual develops allergic disease or not. How and why individuals with allergic asthma respond excessively and inappropriately to inhalation of a small range of seemingly innocuous proteins (allergens) is a central question in respiratory medicine and allergy. We propose that investigating the way that antigen presenting dendritic cells (DC) respond directly to allergens will shed important light on this issue, as DC are fundamental to our ability to deal with foreign antigens and to generate an appropriate immune response. The overall hypothesis underpinning this proposal is that allergens induce specific responses in DC from individuals with allergic asthma, and that this contributes to the maintenance and amplification of allergic tissue inflammation in this disease. Understanding the ways in which DC respond to clinically relevant allergens will lead to significant progress in understanding the pathogenesis of allergic asthma. This project was recommended for funding last year, but was relinquished when one of the previous co-investigators on last year's grant was awarded a Program grant.