Food allergy, or the aggressive immune system reaction following the consumption of a certain food or food ingredient, typically involves immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies and can be potentially life-threatening. Often, the immune response to a food protein can be rapid and severe, requiring emergency care. In recent years, scientific studies have revealed that mucosal mast cells (MMCs), which are immune cells that arise from bone marrow, are excessively produced and play a key role in the severity and sudden onset of food allergy symptoms.
However, the precise mechanisms by which MMCs proliferate excessively are yet to be elucidated. To reveal the underlying mechanism behind the overproduction of MMCs during IgE-mediated food allergy, a team of researchers from Juntendo University, Japan, has focused their efforts on studying intestinal mast cell hyperplasia (increased proliferation) in a mouse model of food allergy.
The research team comprised Associate Professor Nobuhiro Nakano and Dr. Jiro Kitaura from Atopy (Allergy) Research Center, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan, along with Dr. Kenji Oishi and Dr. Toshiaki Shimizu from the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan. Their research findings were published online in Allergy on January 27, 2025.
“Building on our previous research findings, we developed a method to generate mucosal mast cells from bone marrow cells in an in vitro cell culture system. Remarkably, the mast cells generated using our method expressed major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) on their cell surface. Despite MHCII being important for