{"id":65230,"date":"2020-04-15T09:44:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T13:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=65230"},"modified":"2026-04-28T17:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T21:38:37","slug":"brock-team-identifies-protein-leading-to-allergic-inflammation-symptoms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2020\/04\/brock-team-identifies-protein-leading-to-allergic-inflammation-symptoms\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock team identifies protein leading to allergic inflammation symptoms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring is in the air, and so are other things that cause many noses to run and eyes to water.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Antihistamines and decongestants can usually bring some temporary relief to the annoyance, pain and in some cases, danger arising from allergic reactions, but what if an allergic reaction could be stopped before symptoms start to appear? Or if the swelling, redness and tissue damage typical of the late phase of an allergic reaction could be prevented?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Brock University research team has\u00a0discovered<\/a>\u00a0that blocking a particular protein early in the process leading to an allergic reaction could essentially eliminate allergic symptoms.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA major novelty of the finding is that this protein, which is pretty well-known and has been looked at in a number of other cells and contexts, happens to affect both the early and late phase of an allergic reaction,\u201d says PhD student Colton Watson.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The protein, called TAK1, is found in a number of cell types including mast cells, which are immune cells found in tissues such as the skin, respiratory tract, digestive tract and other areas that are in contact with our external environment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mast cells,\u00a0like other immune cells, protect the body from infections caused by pathogens such as parasites, bacteria and viruses, maintaining healthy tissue in the process.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But strangely, mast cells can also react to innocuous substances in the environment \u2013 pollen,\u00a0<\/span>animal dander, certain foods,\u00a0<\/span>among others \u2013 that should pose no real threat. These are known as\u00a0<\/span>allergens.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This sets off a process in which TAK1 is activated and sends out a signal that splits into two. The research team found that one signal leads to a process called degranulation, where cellular \u2018packages\u2019 called granules release molecules that lead to the hives, itchiness, swelling and other immediate \u2018early phase\u2019 symptoms of an allergic reaction.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The other signal sets off two additional pathways that produce proteins called cytokines and chemokines, designed to promote inflammation and recruit additional immune cells to fight off infection.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But what if there is no infection?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because the allergen itself is not a dangerous pathogen, the proteins end up causing further unnecessary inflammation and tissue damage several hours later in the \u2018late phase.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMast cells are not evolutionarily programmed to do this,\u201d says Adam MacNeil, Associate Professor of Health Sciences, who is Watson\u2019s supervisor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MacNeil has received funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF)<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>NSERC\u2019s Discovery Grant program<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>to pursue this research.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAllergens like peanuts or shellfish pose no real threat and as such, the aggressive immune response is misguided and harmful. It\u2019s an inappropriate manifestation of the immune system; an overreaction to something that is innocuous and not dangerous.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Watson says that although previous research has focused on TAK1\u2019s role in other immune cells responding to actual infections, it\u2019s never been looked at in the context of allergically-activated mast cells.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to determine if the role of TAK1 in other immune cells is conserved in allergically-activated mast cells, and to see if we could therefore target TAK1 to stabilize these mast cells by preventing its activation,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s unique about the team\u2019s research compared to earlier studies is that they showed that TAK1 plays a profound role in bringing about allergic reactions through processes in mast cells and that inhibiting TAK1 stops the allergic events in their tracks preventing them from proceeding to the early and late stages of allergic reactions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers verified that a chemical generated by fungus \u2013 5Z-7-oxozeaenol \u2013 widely referred to as \u201cOZ\u201d potently inhibits TAK1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe results generated provide a strong pool of evidence to support additional investigation into the potential of targeting TAK1 in the treatment of allergic inflammation,\u201d says the study, \u201cTAK1 signaling activity links the mast cell cytokine response and degranulation in allergic inflammation<\/a>,\u201d published in the\u00a0<\/span>Journal of Leukocyte Biology<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Watson and MacNeil stress that it\u2019s too early to determine if drugs modelled from OZ can mitigate allergic reactions, saying that they and other researchers can build upon what they found in this study.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe next step is to use the knowledge gained from this study to take rationale and targeted strategies for novel therapeutic design,\u201d says MacNeil.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Allergies are a growing concern for many in Canada and worldwide.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A 2016\u00a0<\/span>Canadian Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Foundation<\/a>\u00a0report says one in every four or five Canadians \u2013 20 to 25 per cent of the population \u2013 has hay fever, and according\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0<\/span>Food Allergy Canada<\/a>, more than 2.6 million Canadians, including almost 500,000 children, live with food allergies that need to be managed daily.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAllergies are absolutely an epidemic,\u201d MacNeil says. \u201cIt\u2019s very much a combination of our environment, immune system and how they interact with one another.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Brock University research team has\u00a0discovered\u00a0that blocking a particular protein early in the process leading to an allergic reaction could essentially eliminate allergic symptoms.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":65312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,7,3319,1,5],"tags":[3668,8863,8862,5688,8861,1696,7488,607,5505,2195,6743,3325,8864,15125],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65230"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65304,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65230\/revisions\/65304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}