title: Specific allergen immunotherapy attenuates allergic airway inflammation in a rat model of Alstonia scholaris pollen induced airway allergy.
abstract: Pollen grains are well established to be an important cause of respiratory allergy. Current pharmacologic therapies for allergic asthma do not cure the disease. Allergen specific immunotherapy is the only treatment method which re-directs the immune system away from allergic response leading to a long lasting effect. The mechanism by which immunotherapy achieves this goal is an area of active research world-wide. The present experimental study was designed to develop an experimental model of allergic lung inflammation based on a relevant human allergen, Alstonia scholaris pollen, and to establish the immunological and cellular features of specific allergen immunotherapy using this same pollen extract. Our results revealed that Alstonia scholaris pollen sensitization and challenge causes eosinophilic airway inflammation with mucin hypersecretion. This is associated with increased total IgE, increased expression of FcɛRI on lung mast cells and increased levels of IL-4, IL-5 & IL-13 as confirmed by ELISA, in-situ immunofluorescence and FACS assay. Allergen specific immunotherapy reduced airway inflammation and also decreased total IgE level, FcɛRI expression, IL-4, IL-5 & IL-13 levels. It was further noted that the reduction of these levels was more by intra-nasal route than by intra-peritoneal route. Thus we present a novel animal model of Alstonia scholaris pollen allergic disease and specific allergen immunotherapy which will pave the way towards the development of better treatment modalities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India; Department of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Ankur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Saibal
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moitra
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Iman
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hazra
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India; Department of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Somnath
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mondal
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Prasanta Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Manoj Kumar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Suhnrita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chaudhuri
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Debanjan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Santanu Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Tropical Medicine, 108 C. R. Avenue, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India. Electronic address: swapna.chaudhuri@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Swapna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chaudhuri
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology*; D031051:Alstonia / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D017520:Mucinoses; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D011058:Pollen / Q000276:immunology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017455:Receptors, IgE / Q000378:metabolism; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D016207:Cytokines; C553474:FCER1A protein, rat; D017455:Receptors, IgE; D007073:Immunoglobulin E
keywords: Airway allergy; Allergen immunotherapy; Alstonia scholaris pollen; Pollen allergy; Rat model