Alteration of death of Treg cells by immunotherapy in allergic sathma

What is it about?

Treg cells , a type of T cells protect the respiratory tract from asthma. So, when asthma was induced in a rat model with pollen extract of Alstonia scholaris, it was seen that the reduced numbers of Treg cells were due to programmed cell death known as apoptosis. Apoptotic death takes place by activating different apoptotic proteins that act as a cascade.Three different pathways of apoptosis were seen to be active in this case. Immunotherapy is the mode of therapy which act by modulating the immune system. In this case when immunotherapy was administered in asthma induced rats in consecutive low doses of the pollen extract, the death of the Treg cells was retarded, so that the animals were relieved of the asthmatic symptoms.

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Why is it important?

this study for the first time delineates the three pathways of apoptosis of Tregs heralding a new dimension in the field of allergen immunotherapy by indicating its effect on programmed cell death of Treg cells. In near future this study will pave a new dimension in the regulation of pollen-induced allergy pathogenesis.