Even if they have not been diagnosed with coeliac disease or wheat allergy, one in 10 people say they experience symptoms – gastrointestinal, fatigue or headache – after eating wheat or other foods containing gluten, according to a meta-analysis published in the journal Gut. This sensitivity is strongly associated with being female, psychological distress and irritable bowel syndrome, according to the study.
In recent decades, the rate of pollen allergies has increased worldwide. One of the reasons being considered is the increase in atmospheric nitrogen pollutants. Now, a study published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health estimates that grasslands fertilised with nitrogen release six times more pollen and that this pollen is five times more allergenic than that from unfertilised fields.
In mice, a therapy based on editing regulatory T-cells can suppress an immune reaction against gluten, according to a study in Science Translational Medicine. Studies in animals with coeliac disease would be needed to assess the efficacy of this cell therapy in restoring gluten tolerance, the authors say.
An analysis of the gut microbiota of children growing up on farms or with pets shows that early establishment of anaerobic commensal bacteria is associated with lower rates of allergy later in life. The study, which used data from 65 children aged between three days and 18 months, is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended granting marketing authorisation in the European Union for Eurneffy (epinephrine), the first nasally administered medicine for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions. Anaphylaxis is the most severe form of allergic reaction that can occur within minutes of exposure to an allergen and can be life-threatening. Until now, treatment with epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) to reduce the anaphylactic reaction is done by intramuscular injection.
Two teams of researchers have separately described a population of memory lymphocytes that may be responsible for the persistence of allergies over time. The work has analysed responses to allergens such as those present in peanuts, dust and birch. According to the authors, whose research is published in Science Translational Medicine, these cells could serve as a target for the treatment of various types of allergies.
Babies who are exposed to dogs and cats during foetal development and early childhood have a lower risk of food allergies up to the age of three, according to a Japanese study published in PLoS ONE. Previous work has focused on the beneficial effect of dogs in this period, while this analysis, based on retrospective data from more than 66,000 children, also includes other pets such as cats and hamsters. According to the study, exposure to dogs is associated with a lower incidence of egg, milk and nut allergies, while contact with cats is linked to a lower incidence of egg, wheat and soy allergies. However, exposure to hamsters is associated with a higher incidence of nut allergy.