Food Intolerance Flashcards
What are the most common reasons for food “allergy”?
irritants- curry and acidity; gas; food poisoning; biochemical
What are hte common biochemical food intolerances?
lactose intolerance and fructose/sorbitol malabsorption
Give examples of non-IgE mediated food allergies?
food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome; food protein induced proctocolitis and enteropathies
Give examples of mixed IgE and non-IgE mediated food allergies?
cows milk protein allergy and eosinophilic oesophagitis/gastroenteritis
What is the definition of food allergy?
ingestion of a small amoutn of food elicits an abnormal immunologically mediated clinical response
When is the reaction with IgE mediated food allergy?
mins to 2hrs
When is the typical onset with cell-mediated food allergy?
1hr to 8 hrs
What is the difference in prevalence between IgE-mediated food allergies in children and adults?
children: 5-7%; adults: 1.4%- Young
What is the difference between perceived and actual prevalence of food allergy in adults?
actual- 1.4% vs perceived- 20.4% - Young
What are the most common food allergies?
milk; egg; peanut; tree nuts; seafood; shellfish; soy and wheat
what are the features of allergenic foods?
polar glycoproteins; heat; acid and protease resistant
What is the pathway in IgE mediated HS?
mast cell/basophil with specific IgE on surface, if allergen binds and cross-links activates the cell and results in degranulation with release of inflammatory mediators
What are hte features of mucosal tolerance?
epithelial barrier with IgA; low Ag presentation; no specific IgE; immunosuppressive environment- IL-10; TGFb and Th3 and Tregs
What are hte features of hte mucosal barrier in food hypersensitivity?
increased antigen load; increased permeability of hte gut wall; DC presentation and stimualtion of Th2 cells
What is the effect of IL-5?
eosinophil activation
What are hte features of food allergy?
itching; hives; rhinorrhea; wheezing; angioedema; anaphylaxis-circulatory collapse
What are the features of gastrointestinal hypersensitivity?
N&V&D; stomach pain
How is food allergy diagnosed?
skin prick testing; RAST; food challenges
What is RAST?
radioallergosorbent test- detects the presence of IgE antibodies to a particular allergen
What is the gold standard of food allergy diagnosis?
double-blind placebo controlled food challenges
What are hte atopic diseases?
asthma; hay-fever; food allergy; eczema; atopic dermatitis
What is the risk of atopic disease if both parents have different atopic syndromes?
58%
What is the risk of atopic disease if both parents have the same clinical disease?
78%
What is the association of HLA with atopy?
DR4 and/orDR7 alleles are seen in 42% of patients vs 2% of health subjects
What supports the hygiene hypothesis?
studies showing less allergy in less economically devleoped countries; lack of early exposure to diret and germs in Western coutnires; loss of tolerance to food proteins
What are the features of timing of oral exposure to foods that may impact oral tolerance?
age at weaning; different quantities; breastfeeding
What is the recommended timing weaning?
introduction to solids after exlcusive breastfeeding at 4-6 months
What is the mx of urticaria?
histamine
What is hte MOA of sodium cromoglycate?
staibilises mast cells
What is the mx of anaphylaxis?
adrenaline; b2 agonists; o2; fluids; antihistamines; steroids; glucagon
What demonstrates the food allergy has increase in the past 10-15 years?
peanut allergy has increased two fold in children
How are food-specific IgE levels related to food allergy?
many individuals have detectable food-specific IgE but no clinical allergy, but increasing concentrations of specific IgE increases risk of clinical allergy
What is associated with food allergy severity?
reduced platelet activating factor acetylhydrolases- unable to inactivate PAF; target organ sensitivity
Give an exmaple of where target organ sensitivity affects allergy severity?
people with asthma are at higher risk of severe or fatal anaphylaxis
What demonstrates that food allergy is genetically determined?
peanut allergy is 10x as likely in a child with a sibling who is peanut allergic
What is oral allergy syndrome?
oral tolerance is bypassed because sensitisation happens through respiratory route e.g birch pollen protein may result in allergy with raw apples due to cross-reactivity
What mice models demonstrate the nonoral exposure to stable proteins invokes allergy?
epicutaneous application of food proteins may result in sensitisation leading to systemic allergy following oral exosure
What human data suggests that skin exposure may be sensitising?
peanut allergy was associated with the use of infant skin creams containing peanut oil-6.8 OR
What is the function of enzymes; bile salts and extremes of pH in oral tolerance?
combine to make allergens less immunogenic
What suggests that low pH is important in oral tolerance?
infants have a higher gastric pH which may reduce the efficiency of hte infant mucosal barrier- food allergy is more common in infants; antacid mediations increase the risk of sensitisation to ingested foods
What is the function of Th3 cells?
CD4 cells which secrete TGFb
Why are intestinal epithelial cells thought to play an important role in oral tolerance?
can process luminal antigen and present it to T cells on MHC-II but lack second signal thereby inducing tolerance
What suggests that the gut microbiotia is important in oral tolerance?
mice raised in a germ free environment fail to develop normal tolerance; if treated with antibiotics or lack TLR4- more prone to developing peanut allergy
What suggests that Tregs are important in oral tolerance?
in IPEX syndrome where there is mutation in FOXP3- syndrome includes severe food allergies and atopic dermatitis
Why is there Th2 direction in allergic immune reponse?
murine models demonstrate that DCs direct T cells towards a Th2 profile at the time of antigen presentation in the gut
How is the cooking of allergens related to allergy induction?
peanut consumption is nearly equivalent in US and China wwhereas in US much higher rates of allergy; US roast peanuts whereas in China they boil or fry- roasting increases stability and allergenicity of the peanuts
Where is the current direction in treatment of allergy?
immunotherapy
What have been the results with peanut allergy subcut immunotherapy?
resulted in modest clinical improvement but significant adverse effects including recurrent anaphylacis
What are the approaches to improving immunotherapy for allergy?
change the route of administration eg sublingual or modifying hte treatment proteins
What have been the efficacy of reponse with oral immunotherapy for egg and milk allergy in children?
70-80%
What is the difference between desensitisation and tolerance?
desensitisation- allergen is ingested without symptoms dyuring treatment but has to be ingested daily vs tolerance where food may be ingested without allergy symptoms despite periods of abstinnce
What is the function of engineered proteins in immuntherapy?
identify IgE binding sites on proteins and mutate the sites to ablate IgE binding whilst preserving the proteins ability to stimualte T cells
How would peptide immunotherapy work?
create a vaccine composed of numerous small peptides that span the sequence of native allergenic proteins which presents T cell epitopes but avoids crosslinking of IgE
How may combination strategies in immunotherapy be used?
use of anti-IgE antibodies to quell allergic reactions to immuntherapy
What causes a failure to digest lactose?
low lactase activty in the small intestinal brush border - hypolactasia
What age group have high lactase?
neonates
What is the normal level of lactase in adults?
lactase non-persistance
Which ethnic groups have lactase persistence?
most but not all Northern Europeans
What happens when there is lactose malabsorption?
lactose breaks down in the colon by microbes resulting in hydrogen; carbon dioxide and lactate
How is lactose intolerance diagnosed?
history or lactose-H2 breath test
What is the lactose-hydrogen breath test?
after oral lactose there is high hydrogen in the breath
What is lactose broken down into in the small intestine by lactase?
glucose/galactose
Give an example of a polymorphism that results in persistance/non-persistance of lactase?
trans polymorphism upstream of lactase start site in Finnish population- Enattah