title: Environmental protection from allergic diseases: From humans to mice and back.
abstract: Allergic diseases have a strong environmental component, illustrated by the rapid rise of their prevalence in the Western world. Environmental exposures have been consistently shown to either promote or protect against allergic disease. Here we focus on protective exposures and the pathways they regulate. Traditional farming, natural environments with high biodiversity, and pets in the home (particularly dogs) have the most potent and consistent allergy-protective effects and are actively investigated to identify the environmental and host-based factors that confer allergy protection. Recent work emphasizes the critical protective role of microbial diversity and its interactions with the gut/lung and skin/lung axes-a cross-talk through which microbial exposure in the gut or skin powerfully influences immune responses in the lung.
authors.affiliation: Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, Klinikum der Ludwigs-Maximilians Universität München, LMU Munich, Lindwurmstr. 4, 80337 Munich, Germany. Electronic address: Bianca.Schaub@med.uni-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schaub
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine & Arizona Respiratory Center, University of Arizona, The BIO5 Institute, Rm. 339, 1657 E. Helen Street, Tucson, AZ 85719, United States.
authors.forename: Donata
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vercelli
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D051379:Mice
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens