Molecular Studies of Human Response to Allergens

Atopic allergy is a common disease that provides an appropriate model for studying the genetic and molecular basis of human immune responsiveness and its relationship to immunological disease (Marsh 1975; Marsh et al. 1981). In the case of allergy, unlike most other immunological diseases, a clear causal relationship has been established between specific immune responsiveness (detected by the presence of serum IgE antibodies) and the expression of a specific atopic disease. A large number of highly purified, well-characterized allergens are now available, and many more identified allergens await characterization (Marsh et al. 1986; Marsh and Norman 1988). Especially in the case of allergy to inhaled antigens, natural exposure is toward immunogenically limiting antigen doses (typically less than 1 µg/year [Marsh 1975]), which facilitates the study of Ir genes. Immunization with much higher doses of antigen than encountered by natural exposure forms the basis of conventional allergen immunotherapy (Rx) and is,...