Autoimmune and neuroendocrine regulation of the allergic response

Allergic reactions seem to be under a variety of different control systems. Concerning the onset of allergic disease, it has become clear that cytokines play an important regulatory role. Specific T-Helper cells subsets produce a pattern of cytokines that preferentially induces IgE synthesis. As IgE synthesis always occurs in the normal individual, we propose that an additional control system is needed. Naturally occurring anti-IgE autoantibodies may represent such a control system that are capable to neutralise IgE or to eliminate IgE producing B cells. This hypothesis is also supported by our recent cloning of autoantibodies against IgE from the human genome. Interestingly, the brain seems to represent a superseding control system that is also capable of modulating allergic reactions and this even at the level of IgE synthesis. This control is mediated by neuroendocrine factors that influence the cytokine microenvironment as if a shift in the TH1/TH2 phenotype had occurred.