Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The role of an allergist has been likened to that of a detective, superior powers of observation, chance encounters and the rejection of evidence have all delivered medical breakthroughs.
This Nature Outlook is editorially independent, produced with financial support from a third party.
About
this content.
Early disruptions in the composition of the gut microbiome can directly influence digestive and immune function in ways that put children at greater risk.
This Primer by Bousquet and colleagues summarizes the epidemiology, mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of allergic rhinitis. In addition, it reviews the quality-of-life issues faced by patients and provides an overview of how mobile health technologies could improve patient care.
This PrimeView highlights the mechanisms of allergic rhinitis, an allergic disorder that manifests as sneezing and nasal congestion, itch and discharge upon exposure to causative allergens.
The identification of the acute phase protein serum amyloid A as a soluble allergen sensor sheds new light on the mechanisms involved in the induction of type II airway inflammation.
Details about IgE-producing B cells in the gut in the context of food allergy are scarce, despite the frequent exposure of the gut and its associated lymphoid tissues to dietary antigens. A new study finds that IgE-producing B cells are enriched in gut tissues and are probably generated from local antibody isotype switching.
Incidence of food allergy in westernized populations is associated with low abundance of Prevotella. Here, the authors analyse the microbiome of a mother-infant prebirth cohort and find that maternal carriage, but not infant carriage, of P. copri during pregnancy predicts the absence of food allergy in the offspring.
In this Review, the authors discuss how the gut microbiota might incite food sensitivity. They focus on direct and indirect mechanisms involving microorganisms and how increased understanding of these mechanisms will help the development of therapeutic strategies for food sensitivities.