Molekulares Profil allergenspezifischer IgG1, IgG4 und IgE bei gesunden und asthmatischen Kindern: Prädiktiver und diagnostischer Wert
Final Report Abstract
Seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis to grass and birch pollen is among the most frequent allergic diseases and it affects over 20% of the German children. Patients can hardly avoid the contact to the allergen and the disaese impacts on their quality of life. It is therefore essential to learn about the early origins of this childhood disease in order to treat it better or even prevent its onset. This project was based on a birth cohort consisting of 1314 children born in 1990 in 5 German cities (Berlin, Düsseldorf, Mainz, Freiburg, and Munich; “Multicenter Allergy Study” - MAS) and aimed at discovering the molecular origin and evolution of allergic responses in childhood. For the first time nanotechnologies (allergen-chips, microarrays) have been used in a birth cohort to exactly identify the pollen molecule that induces the first IgE antibodies (the “bad antibodies”) and starts the cascade of events causing then symptoms and disaese. The study focused also on the role played by IgG antibodies (supposedly the “good” antibodies) against allergens in healthy and allergic children and this part of the project is still in progress. The results acquired so far showed that even years before the first appearance of their symptoms, children start producing IgE antibodies against grasses. Interestingly, “Phl p 1” (a hallmark of the “group 1” molecules of many grasses) is the pollen molecule starting this dangerous immunological process. The child’s allergic response then grows and expands by involving other pollen molecules; therefore, the child’s allergic sensitization becomes molecularly more complex and quantitatively stronger through a newly defined “Molecular Spreading” phenomenon. The study shows also that this early, pre-clinical IgE response can be easily identified at preschool age and used as a biomarker to predict the occurrence of the child’s disease at school age. How can the discovery of the “Molecular Spreading” phenomenon help allergic children? According to the project’s team, an earlier diagnosis and treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis is crucial. Doctors may easily “correct and re-educate” the “wrong” allergic immune response only early enough, when it is still simple and weak. By contrast, most children arrive to the specialist when their allergic immune response is already complex and strong. In other words, as in all aspects of life, early correction may be the only effective. While early diagnosis and therapy is essential, the researchers propose also to further investigate whether an earlier allergen-specific, immunological intervention will allow us preventing Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis in children with a pre-clinical IgE response against Phl p 1. Keywords: Allergenic Molecules, Allergic Rhinitis, Children, Component Resolved Diagnosis, Component Resolved Therapy, Grass Pollen, Hay Fever, Immunoglobulin E, Phleum pratense, Phl p 1, Prediction, Timothy grass
Publications
- Molecular spreading and predictive value of preclinical IgE response to Phleum pratense in children with hay fever. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2012;130:894-901.e5
Hatzler L, Panetta V, Lau S, Wagner P, Bergmann RL, Illi S, Bergmann KE, Keil T, Hofmaier S, Rohrbach A, Bauer CP, Hoffman U, Forster J, Zepp F, Schuster A, Wahn U, Matricardi PM
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2012.05.053)
