Washington [US], February 27 : Allergic asthma, which is characterized by wheezing and breathing difficulties triggered by inhaled allergens such as pollen, mould, and pet dander, is the most common chronic disease among children, and it can persist into adulthood.
For the study, which is published in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, scientists generated unique newborn mouse models of allergen exposure that reproduce the progression of allergic asthma from childhood to adulthood. The work involved tracking allergen-specific immune cells called T helper 2 resident memory cells (Th2-TRMs) that are known to be the central mediator of recurrent allergic inflammation in the lungs.
Experiments revealed that sympathetic nerves in the lungs produce dopamine and reside in proximity to certain T helper 2 cells following allergen exposure in newborns. When dopamine binds to DRD4 receptors on these T helper 2 cells, the cells are more prone to be transformed into Th2-TRMs and are instructed to produce immune response-stimulating molecules, or cytokines. Blocking this dopamine binding following allergen exposure in newborns reduced the T helper 2 cell transformation and alleviated lung inflammation upon the encounter of the same allergen during adulthood.
“Since human lungs are similarly innervated by dopaminergic nerves in early postnatal life, the dopamine-DRD4 axis may provide a therapeutic target to modify allergic asthma progression from childhood to adulthood,” says senior author Xingbin Ai, PhD, an investigator at MGH and an associate professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.(ANI)
A best news channel which publishes latest videos from Jammu and Kashmir which includes Politics, Public Grievances, Current affairs, Off-beat stories, Religion, etc. and We want to combine literature and journalism on one platform.
