Allergy is the price we pay for our immunity to parasites

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/p-ai102615.php

Public Release: 29-Oct-2015
Allergy is the price we pay for our immunity to parasites
PLOS

New findings, published in PLOS Computational Biology, help demonstrate the evolutionary basis for allergy. Molecular similarities in food and environmental proteins that cause allergy (such as pollen), and multicellular parasites (such as parasitic worms), have been identified systematically for the first time.

A study led by Dr Nicholas Furnham (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), supports the hypothesis that allergic reactions are a flawed antibody response towards harmless environmental allergens.

It is thought that part of our immune system has evolved to combat and provide immunity against infection by parasitic worms. However, in the absence of parasitic infection, this same arm of the immune system can become hyper-responsive and mistakenly target allergenic proteins in food or the environment. This results in an unregulated allergic response, which can sometimes be lethal.

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