They found that the cells that may be responsible for allergies have a “memory” and persist over time.

In Spain, a quarter of the world’s population suffers from some type of allergy , between 20 and 25% of the Spanish population suffer from allergies. The most common is Pollen allergy it appears every spring and affects more than 8 million Spaniards. Experts also claim that by 2050 50% of the population will suffer from allergies or have allergy symptoms.

To treat allergies, there are various medications that are primarily aimed at treating and relieving symptoms, but we still cannot completely eliminate them, that is, there is no treatment that “cure” allergies or make them go away. Now we could be a little closer.

Two studies were recently published in the scientific journal ‘ Translational Medicine Science’ each group of researchers found separately, but both in the USA, a type of cell that may be responsible for maintaining allergies and this may serve as the purpose of their treatment.

Thus, as explained and detailed in scientific agency SMC Spain what the scientists described is a “memory lymphocyte population” that may be responsible for long-term allergies by analyzing responses to allergens such as those present in peanuts, dust or birch.

An allergy is a reaction of the immune system to something that does not bother most other people, in this case pollen is the most common in Spain, but there are other common allergies such as grass allergies, dust allergies. or even pets, as well as food allergies.

These abnormal immune responses result from IgE antibodies directed against allergens., which are produced by plasma cells. However, these plasma cells are usually short-lived, although allergies often last a lifetime, leading researchers to wonder how other cells replenish this pool of IgE producers.

Cells responsible for the “memory” of allergies

Thus, the first of the studiesdirector Miyo Ota, from the Ikan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (USA)describes the discovery of a population of immune cells that support IgE production in children with peanut allergies.

Here, experts studied immune cells from 58 children are allergic to peanuts and 13 non-allergy sufferers, and found that the former had a large number a unique type of B cell called polarized memory type 2..

And these cells expressed highly mutated B cell receptors that specifically recognized the peanut allergen (Ara h 2) and could quickly switch to producing IgE. Thus, these data suggest that polarized type 2 memory cells may explain the long-lasting nature of peanut allergy.

On the other hand, hefor the second investigationheaded in this case Joshua Koening, McMaster University, Canadasimilarly found that the same population of polarized type 2 memory B cells also supported allergic memory.

In the study, they observed and studied 6 adults with a birch allergy, 4 adults with a dust mite allergy, and 5 without allergies; They also took data from adults with peanut allergies.

Likewise, these researchers also found that these cells generate IgE against specific antigens in some patients during sublingual allergy immunotherapy, demonstrating that these cells act as an important reservoir for antibodies.