title: The role of IgG antibodies in allergy and immunotherapy.
abstract: In specific immunotherapy (SIT), a beneficial response is associated with an increase in allergen-specific IgG(4) . This does not indicate that IgE-producing B cells have switched to IgG(4) production, because in human DNA, IgE is downstream from IgG(4) . Thus, by conventional switching, B cells should produce IgG(4) before IgE. This presentation discusses three possible hypotheses explaining the favourable association between IgG(4) and SIT, including that SIT causes B cells to become regulatory. Regulatory B cells may produce cytokines like IL-10 that promote IgG(4) production. IgG(4) can undergo in vitro switching to create bispecific antibodies that recognize more than one antigen, which has important consequences for reducing IgE-allergen complexes in immunotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Sanquin Research and Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. r.aalberse@sanquin.nl
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aalberse
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy*; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology*; D007167:Immunotherapy
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007073:Immunoglobulin E