Understanding allergy through parasite immunity

Nicholas Furnham (primary)
Pathogen Molecular Biology
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Hannah Gould (secondary)
Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics and Division of Allergy, Asthma and Lung Biology
King's College London

Abstract

Allergy is an increasing clinical problem and through a shared process of recognition by the immune system is intrinsically linked to immunity to multi-cellular parasites. Prior studies have uncovered the molecular similarities between immune recognition sites in allergens and parasite proteins. This project aims to address the question of why some people are more prone to allergy than others, based on the hypothesis that it is caused by differences in the human immune repertoire. Using a combination of computational biology, genomic immunology and molecular biology, provides an exciting opportunity to provide fundamental insight into parasite immunity and allergy.


References

  1. Tyagi N, Farnell EJ, Fitzsimmons CM, Ryan S, Tukahebwa E, Maizels RM, Dunne DW, Thornton JM, Furnham N. Comparisons of Allergenic and Metazoan Parasite Proteins: Allergy the Price of Immunity. PLoS Comput Biol. 2015 29;11(10):e1004546.
  2. Farnell EJ, Tyagi N, Ryan S, Chalmers IW, Pinot de Moira A, Jones FM, Wawrzyniak J, Fitzsimmons CM, Tukahebwa EM, Furnham N, Maizels RM, Dunne DW. Known Allergen Structures Predict Schistosoma mansoni IgE-Binding Antigens in Human Infection. Front Immunol. 2015 3;6:26.
  3. IgG4 inhibits peanut-induced basophil and mast cell activation in peanut-tolerant children sensitized to peanut major allergens Santos, A. F., James, L. K., Bahnson, H. T., Shamji, M. H., Couto-Francisco, N. C., Islam, S., Houghton, S., Clark, A. T., Stephens, A., Turcanu, V., Durham, S. R., Gould, H. J. & Lack, G. May 2015 In : Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 135, 5, p. 1249-1256

BBSRC Area
Genes, development and STEM* approaches to biology
Area of Biology
ImmunologyStructural Biology
Techniques & Approaches
BioinformaticsGeneticsMathematics / StatisticsMolecular Biology