Pollen Sensitization Can Increase the Allergic Reaction to Non-Cross-Reactive Allergens in a Soy-Allergic Patient.

During and after the pollen season, an increase in food-triggered allergic symptoms has been observed in pollen-food syndrome patients, possibly due to seasonal boosting of pollen-IgE levels. It has been suggested that consumption of birch-pollen-related foods plays a role in seasonal allergenic inflammation. However, whether this increased pollen sensitization during the pollen season can also affect the allergenicity of allergens that are non-cross-reactive with birch pollen remains in question.

Vitamin D: A Potential Mitigation Tool for the Endemic Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and associated development of clinical symptoms of COVID-19 have presented an enormous global impact on our health care systems, public health and economy. To date several observational epidemiological studies consistently found that vitamin D deficiency, measured as low levels of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D, is associated with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, certain cancers, autoimmune diseases and many infectious diseases, including acute respiratory infections. Since vitamin D is not merely immunosuppressive but also acts as an immunomodulator in tolerance and homeostasis, many experts have considered a role of vitamin D in the prevalence and severity of immune mediated inflammatory diseases, such as SARS-CoV-2, adding to the evidence of the importance of vitamin D in the immune response against viral respiratory infections and reinforcing the need for targeted vitamin D supplementation, with a focus on high-risk populations and a high-dose supplementation treatment for COVID-19 hospitalized patients.

Receptor Mediated Effects of Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) on Innate and Adaptative Immunity: Relevance for Food Allergy.

As of late, evidence has been emerging that the Maillard reaction (MR, also referred to as glycation) affects the structure and function of food proteins. MR induces the conformational and chemical modification of food proteins, not only on the level of IgG/IgE recognition, but also by increasing the interaction and recognition of these modified proteins by antigen-presenting cells (APCs). This affects their biological properties, including digestibility, bioavailability, immunogenicity, and ultimately their allergenicity.

The Basophil Activation Test for Clinical Management of Food Allergies: Recent Advances and Future Directions.

The basophil activation test (BAT) is an ex vivo functional assay that measures by flow cytometry the degree of basophil degranulation after stimulation with an allergen. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the diagnostic value of the BAT as it has the potential to mimic the clinical phenotype of sIgE sensitized patients, in contrast to allergen-specific IgE levels. This diagnostic potential would be of particular interest for food allergies present early in life such as peanut, cow's milk and eggs, which require an expensive, time-consuming and patient unfriendly oral food challenge (OFC) for diagnosis.

Vitamin D and Allergy Susceptibility during Gestation and Early Life.

Worldwide, the prevalence of allergies in young children, but also vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy and in newborns is rising. Vitamin D modulates the development and activity of the immune system and a low vitamin D status during pregnancy and in early life might be associated with an increased risk to develop an allergy during early childhood. This review studies the effects of vitamin D during gestation and early life, on allergy susceptibility in infants.

Nutrition, immunological mechanisms and dietary immunomodulation in ADHD.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) etiology is not completely understood, but common comorbid dysfunction of the gastrointestinal and immune system suggests that these systems may be affected by a common genetic background and molecular mechanisms. For example, increased levels of specific cytokines were observed in ADHD. Moreover, ADHD has a high comorbidity with both Th1- and Th2-mediated disorders like ear infections, eczema and asthma.

Immune dysregulation in autism spectrum disorder.

Unlabelled: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common and severe neuro-developmental disorder in early childhood which is defined by social and communication deficits and repetitive and stereotypic behaviours. The aetiology of ASD remains poorly understood. Susceptibility to development of ASD has significant environmental components, in addition to the profound genetic heritability.