2017 Volume 31 Issue 2 Pages 180-187
Since food is a beneficial foreign substance for organisms, oral immune tolerance is induced and excessive immune response is suppressed. Such failure of oral immune tolerance is considered a pathogenic mechanism of food allergies. On the other hand, sensitization to food allergens is known to be induced by multiple exposure routes including intrathecal sensitization, transintestinal sensitization, respiratory tract sensitization, and transcutaneous sensitization, and their role in the development of food allergies has garnered attention.
In terms of IgE-dependent allergies, IgE is cross-linked via the binding of multiple allergen-specific IgE on mast cells and allergens, inducing the degranulation of chemical mediators and the production of lipid mediators, etc. Regarding the pathology of non-IgE-dependent allergies, specific lymphocytes are thought to play an important role in the pathology ; however, the details thereof remain unclarified.
Many patients with immediate-type food allergies in their childhood acquire resistance as they grow. The development of digestive functions of the digestive tract, physicochemical defense mechanisms, and oral immune tolerance mechanisms due to growth are considered to be mechanisms of acquiring natural tolerance.
It is expected that the pathology of food allergies will be further clarified, with approaches aiming at the prevention of disease development and induction of remission to be clinically applied in the near future.
