MODELING IMMUNOTHERAPY FOR ALLERGY

Type I hypersensitivity, which functions to protect the organism from parasites, is caused by binding of antigen to IgE antibodies pre-attac hed to the cell surface of tissue mast cells and their circulating cou nterparts, the basophils. In ''allergy,'' type I hypersensitivity is i nappropriately induced by protein-based foreign substances (such as po llen) or protein components of insect stings, which in the normal cour se of events would be cleared from the organism without causing any da mage. Paradoxically, a successful clinical treatment of allergy involv es repeated immunization of allergic persons with low doses of the all ergen-immunotherapy. Investigation of the available experimental evide nce leads to the conclusion that the phenomena of immunotherapy are be st addressed in terms of the interplay among the mechanism(s) of immun e memory-Th1/Th2 cross-regulation-and the physical compartmentalizatio n of the immune system. These conclusions are illustrated with a numer ical simulation. (C) 1996 Society for Mathematical Biology