Allergy News

What is causing the allergy? Different allergies have different triggers. Recently scientists from Virginia Commonwealth University have found a possible cause.

Mast cells are specialized cells that react to allergy-causing agents by releasing substances that trigger the body's allergic response, leading to conditions like asthma and hives. Among the molecules released by mast cells that participate in the allergic response is sphingosine-1-phosphate. This molecule is also implicated in cancer.

Infants, whose parents suffer from allergies that produce symptoms like wheezing, asthma, hay fever or hives, risk developing allergic sensitization much earlier in life than previously reported, according to a study by U.S. researchers.

The study suggests that the current practice of avoiding skin testing for airborne allergens before four of five years old should be reconsidered, so that children in this high-risk group can be detected early and monitored for the possibility of later allergic respiratory disease.