New Discovery May Help Food Allergic

Research May Provide Clues to Food Allergy.

Science experiments can be a frustrating when expected results are not forthcoming. Sometimes, though, it's the unexpected results that can lead to the best findings. Dr. Rodney Newberry, a gastroenterologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has come across something that may eventually benefit those with food allergies.

Dr. Newberry's team placed a video in the gut of a mouse to observe what they thought would be dendritic cells sampling food particles and then seeking out antigens to neutralize or attack if the samples were found to be threatening. However, what they discovered was an escort, called goblet cells, whose job it is to bring the food sample to the dendritic cells. This discovery leads researchers to believe that goblet cells play a much more important role than previously thought. If these escort cells could be trained to bring food samples to the dendritic cells and introduce them in a friendly manner, perhaps the body wouldn't over-react to an innocent egg or peanut protein.These findings may help scientists introduce a drug therapy to tame an over-active immune system, like that found in people with food allergies or celiac disease.

Aaahhh...if we could only get our cells to play nice and cooperate...

Check out Christopher Wajnek's article Special Gut Cells May Help Tame Food Allergies for more information on Dr. Newberry's study.