title: Inverse relationship between multiple sclerosis and allergic respiratory diseases.
abstract: Th1 up-regulation seems to favour autoimmunity, while Th2 up-regulation seems to favour humoral immunity. Accordingly, subjects affected by atopic diseases (such as allergic respiratory diseases, ARDs) should be less prone to autoimmune diseases (such as multiple sclerosis, MS), and vice versa. The recent identification of Th17 cells, which seem to favour the development of both autoimmunity and allergy, led to the revision of the classic Th1/Th2 paradigm. We studied 200 MS patients and 200 controls to analyze the relationships between ARDs and MS. MS patients had less probability to suffer from ARDs (OR = 0.30, p < 0.001) and allergic rhinitis (OR = 0.25, p < 0.001), after adjusting for environmental factors. MS tended to be less severe when associated to ARDs. Our findings add some elements for the comprehension of immune mechanisms involved in MS pathogenesis and suggest to analyze other MS cohorts, in order to evaluate if MS patients affected by allergic diseases show particular clinical findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurology, Multiple Sclerosis Centre, CRISM, Neurological Institute C. Mondino, Via Mondino 2, 27100, Pavia, Italy. roberto.bergamaschi@mondino.it
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bergamaschi
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Villani
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crabbio
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ponzio
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romani
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verri
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bargiggia
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cosi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D017668:Age of Onset; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000276:immunology; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000276:immunology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015995:Prevalence; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology; D055815:Young Adult