The role of environmental factors in allergy: A critical reappraisal.

Allergies are usually referred to as type I hypersensitivity reactions against innocuous environmental antigens, characterized by a Th2/IgE-dominated inflammation. They can manifest themselves in various organs, such as skin, gastrointestinal and respiratory tract, and comprise diseases as diverse as allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis, bronchial asthma, oral allergy syndrome, food allergy, urticaria and atopic eczema, but also anaphylactic shock. Within the last decades, there was a significant global increase in allergy prevalence, which has been mostly attributed to changes in environment and lifestyle.

Clinical phenotypes and endophenotypes of atopic dermatitis: Where are we, and where should we go?

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a paradigmatic chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by a complex pathophysiology and a wide spectrum of the clinical phenotype. Despite this high degree of heterogeneity, AD is still considered a single disease and usually treated according to the "one-size-fits-all" approach. Thus more tailored prevention and therapeutic strategies are still lacking.