Protection against brain tumors by allergy antibodies

Allergy sufferers have a lower brain tumor risk

10/24/2011

Allergy sufferers are apparently at lower risk of brain tumors. This is the conclusion reached by a British-American research team in a recent study of possible associations between the occurrence of brain tumors and the concentration of allergen-specific antibodies, so-called immunoglobulin E (IgE)..

As the researchers at Imperial College, London, UK, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, and Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, have found, the risk of brain cancer in people with allergies is lower than average Population apparently much lower. The allergy antibodies IgE seem to protect against brain tumors, the researchers report in the latest issue of the journal „Journal of the National Cancer Institute“.

Tens of thousands of data from US health studies evaluated
The British-US research team evaluated the medical data of tens of thousands of people who had participated in four large-scale health studies in the United States as part of its extensive research. The data allowed a comparison between the concentration of allergy antibodies in the organism with the development of cancers in the brain. The researchers were not only able to rely on data after the diagnosis in the cancer patients, but also had information from the health studies about the IgE content before the brain tumor diagnosis. In addition, they were - if successful therapy - the data for surviving cancer available. In this way, the researchers could also rule out that the IgE level in the organism was influenced by the cancer or its treatment. What was particularly important in the opinion of co-author of the current article, Dominique Michaud of Brown University, „to see if it is a meaningful effect.“

Immune response of allergy sufferers to tumors
The evaluated data provide clear evidence that allergy sufferers are at a lower risk of brain tumors than the population average, reports the epidemiologist of Brown University in „Journal of the National Cancer Institute“. People who had a slightly elevated level of the IgE antibody produced in allergies (such as asthma) were significantly less likely to suffer from brain tumors. However, this does not apply to people with a very high IgE level. Therefore, according to the experts further studies are necessary to explain the relationship between the allergy antibodies and the occurrence of cancer in the brain. It is clear, however, „that the immune response of people with allergies to tumors is different than in people without allergies“, explained the epidemiologist Dominique Michaud. According to the experts, the immunoglobulin E, which is needed primarily to repel parasites, plays a decisive role in this, although the proportion of IgE in the total immunoglobulins of the body is usually well below one percent. (Fp)

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Picture: Thomas Max Müller