Changing patterns of antigen exposure and their impact on the prevalence of allergy

Industrial development has advanced at a varying pace in different parts of the world over the past 200 years. Inhabitants of the most industrially advanced regions have experienced major changes in patterns of antigen exposure to infectious agents and to environmental biologic substances. This article analyzes the major factors that affect the amounts and variety of antigens to which the immune system of a young child is exposed. Depending on individual living environments and lifestyles, the types of antigen exposure of young children are graded into five patterns: 'primitive', 'pre-modern', 'early modern', 'modern', and 'ultramodern'. These patterns represent increasing deviation from the pattern of human immune system exposure to antigens prior to the industrial revolution. This article further discusses how such changes in antigen exposure have affected the immunologic system, especially with regard to the development of total IgE and allergic response-relevant antigen-specific IgE, and how the patterns of antigen exposure are related to the propensity to develop allergy.