MSGID: 1:317/3 64af7e0c   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    How the immune system can alter our behavior    
      
     Date:   
         July 12, 2023   
     Source:   
         Yale University   
     Summary:   
         Simply the smell of seafood can make those with an allergy to it   
         violently ill -- and therefore more likely to avoid it. The same   
         avoidance behavior is exhibited by people who develop food poisoning   
         after eating a certain meal. Scientists have long known that the   
         immune system played a key role in our reactions to allergens   
         and pathogens in the environment, but it was unclear whether it   
         played any role in prompting these types of behaviors towards   
         allergic triggers.   
      
      
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   Simply the smell of seafood can make those with an allergy to it   
   violently ill -- and therefore more likely to avoid it. The same avoidance   
   behavior is exhibited by people who develop food poisoning after eating   
   a certain meal.   
      
   Scientists have long known that the immune system played a key role in   
   our reactions to allergens and pathogens in the environment, but it was   
   unclear whether it played any role in prompting these types of behaviors   
   towards allergic triggers.   
      
   According to Yale-led research published July 12 in the journal Nature,   
   it turns out that the immune system plays a crucial role in changing   
   our behaviors.   
      
   "We find immune recognition controls behavior, specifically defensive   
   behaviors against toxins that are communicated first through antibodies   
   and then to our brains," said Ruslan Medzhitov, Sterling Professor of   
   Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine, investigator for the Howard   
   Hughes Medical Institute, and senior author of the study.   
      
   Without immune system communication, the brain does not warn the body   
   about potential dangers in the environment and does not try to avoid   
   those threats, the study shows.   
      
   A team in the Medzhitov lab, led by Esther Florsheim, at the time   
   a postdoctoral researcher at Yale and now an assistant professor at   
   Arizona State University, and Nathaniel Bachtel, a graduate student at   
   the School of Medicine, studied mice that had been sensitized to have   
   allergic reactions to ova, a protein found in chicken eggs. As expected,   
   these mice tended to avoid water laced with ova, while control mice   
   tended to prefer ova-laced water sources. The aversion to ova-laced   
   water sources in sensitized mice lasted for months, they found.   
      
   The team then examined whether they could alter the behavior of sensitized   
   mice by manipulating immune system variables. They found, for instance,   
   that mice allergic to ova lost their aversion to the protein in their   
   water if Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies, produced by the immune system,   
   were blocked.   
      
   IgE antibodies trigger the release of mast cells, a type of white blood   
   cell that, along with other immune system proteins, plays a crucial   
   role in communicating to areas of the brain that control aversion   
   behavior. Without IgE as an initiator, the transmission of information   
   was interrupted, so that mice no longer avoided the allergen.   
      
   Medzhitov said that the findings illustrate how the immune system evolved   
   to help animals avoid dangerous ecological niches. Understanding how the   
   immune system memorizes potential dangers, he added, could one day help   
   suppress excessive reactions to many allergens and other pathogens.   
      
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   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Esther B. Florsheim, Nathaniel D. Bachtel, Jaime Cullen, Bruna G. C.   
      
         Lima, Mahdieh Godazgar, Fernando Carvalho, Carolina P. Chatain,   
         Marcelo R. Zimmer, Cuiling Zhang, Gregory Gautier, Pierre Launay,   
         Andrew Wang, Marcelo O. Dietrich, Ruslan Medzhitov. Immune sensing   
         of food allergens promotes avoidance behaviour. Nature, 2023; DOI:   
         10.1038/s41586-023- 06362-4   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230712124604.htm   
      
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