Treatment of clinical forms of allergy

AUTHORS : Abalakin V.A.

RELEVANT UNIVERSITIES : Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia

YEAR : 2004 | Category : Method of Treatment

In clinical practice, a number of diseases caused by an allergic component are often found: allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, bronchial asthma, urticaria, and others. Allergic rhinitis is divided into seasonal rhinitis (hay fever) and year-round allergic rhinitis caused by house dust mites, mold spores, animal hair, or other allergens that cause allergic rhinitis symptoms year-round.

Seasonal and perennial rhinitis is caused by immediate hypersensitivity (type 1), when IgE antibodies to environmental antigens such as pollen, house dust mites or animal dander, fixed on the surface of mast cells, bind to the corresponding antigen. As a result of the antigen-antibody reaction, mast cells release biologically active mediators that cause an acute inflammatory reaction with symptoms of asthma or rhinitis.

Type II hypersensitivity is also determined by antibodies of only IgG-class, which bind on the surface of cells with an auto- or foreign antigen. This reaction leads to the activation of complement dependent lysis of cells that fix these antibodies (systemic lupus erythematosus, thrombocytopenia, pemphigus, myasthenia gravis). Type III hypersensitivity develops with the formation of a large number of antigen-antibody complexes or with a violation of their elimination by the reticulo-endothelial system (serum sickness, autoimmune processes). Hypersensitivity IV, or delayed, type is most pronounced when macrophages absorb foreign material (bacteria), but are not able to eliminate it.