Allergies caused by a genetic defect?

A genetic defect may lead to allergies

07/25/2013

A genetic defect previously associated with connective tissue disease may also trigger certain allergies. US scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have come to this conclusion. Thus, the genetic disorder would set in motion a kind of chain reaction to substances of everyday life.

Genetic defect previously known as the cause of the „Loeys-Dietz syndrome“
US researchers of the private „Johns Hopkins University“ (JHU) in Baltimore has apparently made great progress in finding the causes of allergies. As part of a research project involving children and young adults, researchers have identified a genetic defect that may play a key role in the development of many allergies. Particularly interesting: As the researchers write in the journal "Science Translational Medicine", this genetic defect was already known - but so far only as a cause of congenital connective tissue disease, the so-called „Loeys-Dietz syndrome“ (LDS).

Scientists examine 58 young LDS patients
According to the article, the researchers had examined 58 patients aged seven to 20 for their study, all of whom had Loeys-Dietz syndrome. The connective tissue disease is caused by a genetic defect in the TGF-beta receptor I or II, a molecule that plays an important role in the development of connective tissue as well as in the immune system.

Patients with LDS „highly susceptible to allergic diseases“
In addition, according to immunologist Pamela Frischmeyer-Guerrerio of the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, the genetic defect in the TGF-beta molecule may also be the source of a series of other physical reactions that could eventually lead to further diseases: „We show that patients with Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS), an autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in the TGF receptor subunit TGFBR1 and TGFBR2 genes, are highly susceptible to allergic diseases such as asthma and food allergies , Eczema, allergic rhinitis and eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders“, said the scientist in "Science Translational Medicine".

Genetic defect may inhibit the immune cells
Allergies have always been a relatively complicated topic in medicine because they are considered to be the product of a complex interplay of environmental influences and genes. In the latest study, the US researchers came to the conclusion that false signals of the TGF-beta molecule could be the cause of an elementary process in the development of allergies - because this genetic defect could possibly immune cells no longer undisturbed react to food and other allergenic substances in the environment, paving the way for the emergence of allergies.

Gene defect seems to unlock a chain reaction
Nevertheless, according to the cardiologist Harry Dietz must be differentiated, because "disturbances in the TGF-beta signals do not simply cause the immune cells to behave wrong," instead, it seems rather that the genetic defect "independently the actual chain reaction which possibly leads to allergic diseases ". According to the researchers, this finding could be of great medical benefit, because „this paradigm may be relevant to non-syndromal forms of allergic disease and highlights the potential therapeutic benefit of strategies that inhibit signal transduction of the TGF molecule“, the scientists continue. (No)

Also read about allergies:
Many children suffer from food allergy
Act quickly in case of occupational allergy
Rye and Ambrosia Allergy: Pollen Calendar
Allergy: Waiting for the pollen explosion

Picture credits: S. Hofschlaeger