A Recent Strategy Showing Some Promise for the Treatment of IgE-Mediated

question 28

Multiple Choice

A recent strategy showing some promise for the treatment of IgE-mediated allergies is a form of allergen immunotherapy, in which allergic individuals are given 3-4 intradermal injections of soluble peptides. For example, in one study, allergic individuals were injected with a set of 13-17 amino acid long peptides derived from the house dust mite protein antigen; these peptides were selected based on predictions for sequences likely to be MHC class II binding epitopes. Following the treatment, individuals were found to have increased numbers of antigen-specific IL-10-producing CD4 T cells, a finding that correlated with reduced allergic responses to allergen challenge. One of the goals of this therapy might also be to:

• A) Reduce the levels of IgE antibodies specific for the allergen
• B) Induce type 1 or type 3 immune responses that might inhibit the type 2 allergic responses
• C) Induce CD8 T cell responses that would kill allergen specific T_H2 cells
• D) Induce IgG and IgA antibodies to the allergen
• E) Induce apoptosis of allergen-specific effector CD4 T cells

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