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A new treatment for Mast cell disorders ?

sillysocks84

Senior Member
Messages
445
"Cure for Allergies?

Scientists from Switzerland, Japan and the US discovered that mast cells are not only “bad guys” that initiate the allergic reaction, but also have a “good side”: They lead to the production of large amounts of T-regulatory (Treg) cells, that suppress the allergic inflammation. This could be the basis for a new way to handle allergies.
Researchers discovered a mechanism that stops the body reacting with an excessive immune reaction. This could be the basis for a new treatment.

Most people with allergies have to take medication throughout their life: Their body "thinks" that proteins from the environment are so "strange" that they elicit animmune reaction. Until present, it was not possible to develop an efficient therapy so that the body "learns" to stop in an overreacting way.

Scientists from the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) in Davos, from the University of Tokyo, the RIKEN Research Institute in Yokohoma, and from Stanford University recently discovered a mechanism that could be the basis for a new way to handle allergies.

Mast cells play a key role in the disease process in allergies: As a reaction towards an allergen – for example pollen or dust mites – they release big amounts of substances that initiate an inflammatory process. Study leader Hideaki Morita and his team discovered that mast cells are not only "bad guys", but also have a "good side" (see figure): They release the substance interleukin-2 that induces the production of certain immune cells called T-regulatory (Treg) cells. Treg cells can suppress the allergic inflammatory process in the airways induced by interleukin-10.

It is already known for some time that Treg cells can subdue an excessive immune response and the resulting inflammation. For example, injections with Treg cells prevented autoimmune diseases in mice. However, for Treg cell treatments one needs a large amount of these cells, which is not easy to realise. In the blood, there are just a few of them, and in vitro they are difficult to produce. Using mast cells, Treg cells could be easily produced in the laboratory in large quantities. "The mechanism that we discovered, could be the basis for a new way to handle allergies," says Hideaki Morita.

More information: "An interleukin-33-Mast Cell-interleukin-2 Axis Suppresses Allergic Inflammation Induced by Papain-Promoting Regulatory T Cell Numbers," Immunity(2015), dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni .2015.06.021

Provided by: Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF)"
 

sillysocks84

Senior Member
Messages
445
What does this mean in actual practice (or is it just theoretical at this point?)
I believe it is theoretical but with a strong basis. I hope this doesn't mean years before there is something on the market. I have looked for more information. Next I'll probably try to get a hold of researchers.
 

sillysocks84

Senior Member
Messages
445
I wrote to dysautonomia international about the mast cell connection to pots and other dysautonomia and got a reply! I will copy/paste below.
 

sillysocks84

Senior Member
Messages
445
"Dysautonomia International and the researchers we work with who study POTS are very aware of the mast cell links to POTS.

There are some researchers who suspect that the autonomic dysfunction itself is causing the mast cell problems in POTS patients, since the autonomic nervous system regulates the immune system, including mast cell functions. Then once the mast cell symptoms start, they only make the autonomic symptoms worse.

We had a speaker at our national conference discussing this in July, and it looks like the NIH found a gene associated with this, at least in some patients. There is a ton of research going on right now related to immune/autonomic interaction. Dysautonomia International has taken the lead on getting more POTS/MCAS specific research going. We are working on a POTS/MCAS specific study right now with researchers in California, but it still needs IRB approvals before we can announce it and begin recruiting.

When you are digging into the research on these issues, look at adrenergic receptors on mast cells and other immune cells. This might be the key to what is degranulating the mast cells in POTS patients.

Regards,"