Signaling pathways activated by a protease allergen in basophils.

ABSTRACT: Allergic diseases represent a significant burden in industrialized countries, but why and how the immune system responds to allergens remain largely unknown. Because many clinically significant allergens have proteolytic activity, and many helminths express proteases that are necessary for their life cycles, host mechanisms likely have evolved to detect the proteolytic activity of helminth proteases, which may be incidentally activated by protease allergens. A cysteine protease, papain, is a prototypic protease allergen that can directly activate basophils and mast cells, leading to the production of cytokines, including IL-4, characteristic of the type 2 immune response. The mechanism of papain's immunogenic activity remains unknown. Here we have characterized the cellular response activa

SUBMITTER: Rosenstein RK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4246326 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature