title: Food Allergy: Our Evolving Understanding of Its Pathogenesis, Prevention, and Treatment.
abstract: Food allergy is defined as an IgE-mediated hypersensitivity response to ingested food with allergic symptoms ranging from urticaria to life-threatening anaphylaxis. Food allergy is thought to develop because of (1) failed induction of tolerance upon initial exposure to food antigen or (2) breakdown of established tolerance to food antigen. We review current understanding of the pathogenesis, epidemiology, and natural history of food allergy, including the unconventional IgE-mediated food allergy to mammalian meat known as alpha-gal food allergy. We highlight emerging data on food allergy treatment and prevention, emphasizing the growing appeal of manipulating the gut microenvironment using probiotics and helminth products to blunt systemic allergic responses to food.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 030 MacNider Hall, CB 7231, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7231, USA. Onyinye.Iweala@unchealth.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Onyinye I
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Iweala
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 030 MacNider Hall, CB 7231, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7231, USA.
authors.forename: A Wesley
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Burks
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology; D008460:Meat; D064307:Microbiota; D019936:Probiotics / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D007073:Immunoglobulin E
keywords: Alpha-gal; Food allergy; Helminth; Microbiota; Peanut allergy; Probiotics