2012 In asthma, influenza A (acute) is made worse by small amount of mite exposure

2012 In asthma, influenza A (acute) is made worse by small amount of mite exposure

A small amount of house dust mite allergen, combined with influenza A can result in an ‘over-the-top’ genetic and immune response in asthma.  This important study proposes that an acute influenza A infection primes the lung environment in such a

way as to lower the threshold of house dust mite allergen responsiveness thus encouraging “a clinically significant allergic phenotype”. The study demonstrates that the ‘infection’ increases the expression of multiple gene classes capable of sensing mite allergens and therefore amplifying an immune-inflammatory response.

By the courtesy of :

Shifting of Immune Responsiveness to House Dust Mite by Influenza A Infection: Genomic insights.  Amal Al-Grawi et al.  ‘J. Immunol.’, 2012, Vol 188; No. 2: 832-843

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