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The hallmark of atopic asthma is transient airways hyperresponsiveness (AHR) preceded by aeroallergen-induced Th-cell activation.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the small and large conducting airway mucosa characterised by Th2 cell immunity.
This chapter describes the preparation of respiratory tract tissue from both mice and rats for the isolation of respiratory tract dendritic cells (RTDC).
Peanut allergy is the most common food allergy in Australian school-aged children and is rarely outgrown. Access to oral immunotherapy (OIT), a disease-modifying treatment for food allergy, is limited in many regions of the world, including Australia.
The pivotal phase 3 EPITOPE trial, a 12-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of epicutaneous immunotherapy with the VIASKIN patch containing 250 μg of peanut protein (VP250), previously reported significant treatment response versus placebo in peanut-allergic toddlers aged 1 through 3 years.
Remission is the desired outcome following OIT as it allows individuals to discontinue treatment and eat the allergen freely. Early initiation of OIT in infants and toddlers has been embraced as an approach to increase the likelihood of remission. However, there is no high-quality evidence supporting younger age as an independent factor driving remission; available studies are limited by small samples of younger subjects and lack of adjustment for confounding covariates, particularly peanut-specific IgE (sIgE) levels which is closely cor
Few studies have examined long-term outcomes following oral immunotherapy; none have examined long-term risks and benefits associated with distinct clinical outcomes (desensitization, remission).
Food allergy is a major public health challenge in Australia. Despite widespread uptake of infant feeding and allergy prevention guidelines the incidence of peanut allergy in infants has not fallen, and prevalence of peanut allergy in school-aged children continues to rise. Therefore, effective and accessible treatments for peanut allergy are required.
Influenza A virus is the only influenza virus causing flu pandemics. Influenza is a highly contagious disease that can be deadly, especially in high-risk groups. Worldwide, these annual epidemics are estimated to result in about 3 to 5 million cases of severe illness and in about 290,000 to 650,000 respiratory deaths.
Human perinatal life is characterized by a period of extraordinary change during which newborns encounter abundant environmental stimuli and exposure to potential pathogens. To meet such challenges, the neonatal immune system is equipped with unique functional characteristics that adapt to changing conditions as development progresses across the early years of life, but the molecular characteristics of such adaptations remain poorly understood.