IgE, Mast Cells and the Allergic Response

This symposium was held at the CIBA Foundation in London during April 1989. CIBA exists to promote international co-operation in biological, medical and chemical research, and organizes eight multidisciplinary symposia each year. This topic was proposed by Professor Heiner Frost.

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IgE, Mast Cells and the Allergic Response Chairman: H. Metzger 1989 Allergy, like autoimmunity, is an aberration of the immune reponse. It is still far from clear why certain individuals produce antibodies to harmless stimuli which elicit minor or no responses in other people, or why these antibodies should be chiefly of the IgE class. What is clear is that the prevalence of allergic disorders is high and is increasing: it has been estimated that 12 per cent of the world's population suffers, or will suffer, from IgE-mediated allergies. This symposium reviews and debates recent basic research into IgE, mast cells and the allergic response, the relevance of this work to human pathophysiology and possible new methods of treatment. Insight is being obtained into the control of IgE synthesis (including the role of cytokines such as interleukin 4), into interactions between IgE and its high and low affinity receptors, and into the molecular structure of those receptors. This volume includes contributions from molecular biologists and immunogeneticists on these basic processes.
Other chapters consider the cell biology and biochemistry of IgE receptor-bearing mast cells, basophils, eosinophils and other cell types. The interaction of intrinsic modulatory factors and extrinsic environmental factors is discussed, including the effects of atmospheric pollutants on the IgE response and the changing epidemiological pattern of allergy in the developed and developing world. New approaches to hyposensitization therapy are analysed in terms of new awareness of the role of T cells and lymphokines in the regulation or IgE synthesis and the immunomodulation of effector cells. Other Ciba Foundation Symposia: No 142 Genetic analysis of tumour suppression Chairman: E. J. Stanbridge 1989 ISBN 0 471 92299 4 No 145 Carbohydrate recognition in cellular function Chairman: E. Ruoslahti 1989 ISBN 0 471 92307 9 No 148 Molecular control of haemopoiesis Chairman: D. Metcalf 1990 ISBN 0 471 92561 6