生物谷報(bào)道：最新研究確認(rèn)了一種對(duì)于抵抗食物過敏非常重要的分子,，這或許將帶來新的治療手段,。

    目前尚沒有治療食物過敏的有效方法,，對(duì)患者而言唯一的手段是避免特定引起過敏的食物,，并保證隨身攜帶可注射的腎上腺激素。由Norwich食物研究所的Claudio  Nicoletti博士領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的小組發(fā)現(xiàn),，在過敏反應(yīng)發(fā)生過程中,，一種被稱為Interleukin-12（IL-12）的分子會(huì)消失。Nicoletti博士證實(shí),，在存在IL-12的情況下注入抗原,，則過敏反應(yīng)能被抑制，并且得到控制,。

    Nicoletti說：“食物中對(duì)某些人完全無害的蛋白質(zhì)可能對(duì)其它人是致命的,。而我們找到了保證免疫系統(tǒng)反應(yīng)受到控制的關(guān)鍵分子。”

    發(fā)生食物過敏意味著免疫系統(tǒng)對(duì)食物蛋白發(fā)生了反應(yīng),。免疫系統(tǒng)產(chǎn)生免疫球蛋白E（IgE）,，它通常用于幫助身體對(duì)抗寄生蟲。而在極端情況下,，患者將發(fā)生致命的免疫反應(yīng),，包括過敏性休克。

    在之前的研究中,，Nicoletti發(fā)現(xiàn)一種被稱為枝狀細(xì)胞的特殊白細(xì)胞對(duì)于幫助免疫系統(tǒng)確定如何對(duì)外來分子做出反應(yīng)非常關(guān)鍵,。在最新實(shí)驗(yàn)中，Nicoletti比較了過敏性老鼠和正常老鼠之間腸道和脾臟的枝狀細(xì)胞活躍性,。結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn),，在過敏性老鼠的腸道中，枝狀細(xì)胞停止產(chǎn)生IL-12,。

    Nicoletti說：“我們找到了對(duì)于調(diào)控免疫反應(yīng)非常重要的分子，并且首次找到了過敏治療的潛在目標(biāo),。”而Anaphylaxis  Campaign主任David  Reading說：“過敏對(duì)于家庭而言是沉重的負(fù)擔(dān),，因此我們對(duì)于這一研究結(jié)果很高興。” （引自教育部科技發(fā)展中心）

原文鏈接：http://www.physorg.com/news102589849.html

原始出處:

Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Volume 119, Issue 6, Pages 1504-1510 (June 2007)

Prevalence of self-reported food allergy in American adults and use of food labels

Katherine A. Vierk, MPHa, Kathleen M. Koehler, PhD, MPHa, Sara B. Fein, PhDa, Debra A. Street, PhDa

Received 12 June 2006; received in revised form 12 March 2007; accepted 12 March 2007 published online 25 April 2007.

College Park, Md

Background
Few population-based studies in the United States have determined the prevalence of food allergy in adults and the problems these individuals might have with reading food labels.

Objective
The objectives of this study are to report the prevalence of self-reported food allergy, to identify the characteristics of food allergy reactions, and to describe the use of labels among adults with food allergy.

Methods
Questions from the US Food and Drug Administration's 2001 Food Safety Survey were analyzed to determine the prevalence of food allergy and opinions about food labels in the management of food allergy.

Results
The prevalence of self-reported food allergy is 9.1% among all survey respondents, with 5.3% of all respondents reporting a doctor-diagnosed food allergy. The prevalence of food allergy to the 8 most common allergens (peanut, tree nuts, egg, milk, wheat, soybeans, fish, and crustacean shellfish) is self-reported as 2.7% among respondents with doctors' diagnoses. Several label issues, such as words on some ingredient lists being too technical or hard to understand and food labels not always alerting persons to new ingredients, were reported as serious or very serious obstacles for managing an allergy.

Conclusion
The prevalence of self-reported doctor-diagnosed food allergy among US adults is 5.3%, and a large portion of adults with food allergy found certain label issues a serious problem for managing their food allergy.

Clinical implications
The findings provide a needed source of population-based prevalence data of food allergy among US adults. Label issues identified are useful in understanding the difficulties of managing a food allergy.

Key words: Food allergy, food labeling, prevalence