What could be more reminiscent of childhood than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a summer ice cream cone?
Unfortunately, allergy to peanuts, dairy products, or other foods has complicated life for approximately 3 million school-aged children and their families. Asthma and food allergies affect more than 50 million people in the United States, and some reactions may be fatal.
Reactive mast cells are the culprit in allergic diseases, and they have been implicated in diseases, including autoimmune disorders, cancer, and atherosclerosis. These immune sentinel cells normally defend against parasites and bacteria. However, sometimes the cells overreact to harmless intruders, such as pollens or plant oils, and release granules loaded with inflammation-inciting molecules, such as histamine, that cause allergic reactions.
Mast cell research has been hampered by its reliance on primary cultures of human or murine mast cells.
Establishing primary cultures is a costly, timeconsuming affair that takes 6 to 8 weeks and yields a limited number of cells. A longtime milestone in allergy and inflammatory medicine has been realized by Drs. Dean Metcalfe, Cem Akin, Arnold Kirshenbaum, and their colleagues at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.
They derived a new human mast cell line from human leukemia tissue. Named "LAD2" after the NIAID Laboratory of Allergic Diseases, this line mimics the functions of mast cells within the human body and bears functional IgE receptors, allowing them to bind IgE antibodies. The availability of an immortalized mast cell line ensures a continuous supply of cells, yielding reproducible data that are more easily compared when generated in different labs.
This cell line is a potent tool for understanding the normal functions of mast cells within the human body and identifying the mechanisms of a variety of diseases. Research will ultimately lead to the development of novel therapies to combat these diseases.
Scientists are analyzing the molecular mechanisms used by allergens and anti-inflammatory agents to aggravate or suppress mast cell activity. Projects include identifying the molecular mediators triggered by allergens, designing tests to identify new allergens, and developing compounds to treat inflammation caused by mast cells.
This technology has also been a licensing success, with the execution of more than 30 internal commercial research licenses with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
Much of the credit for the success of this technology goes to the NIAID scientists who characterized the cells and raised national awareness about the technology through scientific presentations, discussions, and publications. With the LAD2 human cell line, scientists can save time, effort, and expense to advance allergy research.
