As strange as it may seem, a child's exposure to peanuts, pets, and intestinal worms might actually be good for the immune system. Doctors are trying to make use of novel approaches to retrain the immune system once it's too late and allergies set in.
Allergy shots work, but they're costly and often must be continued for years. Then the protection fades over time. There are two new strategies being developed that may improve treatment.
One strategy, pioneered by researchers in Berkeley California, involves disguising a key ragweed protein with DNA from a bacterium. The goal is to create a short course of allergy shots that tricks the immune system into permanently thinking that ragweed is a bacterium, so it will attack it like a germ and not mount an allergic response.
A second strategy being developed at UCLA involves fusing a cat allergen with a snippet of a powerful antibody call IgG. Researchers hope the combo will turn off histamine-producing cells, eventually retraining the immune system to accept that cats are harmless. Other researchers believe a low-grade infection with intestinal worms - pig whipworms because they cannot reproduce in humans - can restore the immune system.
Whether it is endotoxin or worms, scientists continue to investigate all of the factors that can confer protection against allergy and other immune diseases. For less extreme measures, or at least ones that are proven, choosing a HEPA air filter can reduce the allergens in your home, thus lowering triggers of allergic reactions.
(Summarized from: USA TODAY, March 19, 2006, article by: Steve Sternberg; Copyright© 2006 USA TODAY. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services. March 19, 2006.)
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