Affiliations: [a] Krebs Institute for Biomolecular Research, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2UH, UK | [b] Krebs Institute for Biomolecular Research, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Health and Safety Laboratory, Broad Lane, Sheffield S3 7HQ, UK | [c] University of Zürich, Institute for Virology, Winterthurerstr. 266a, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland | [d] Laboratorio de Microbiologia Molecular, Centro de Biotechnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Goncalves, 9500-Predio 43421, Campus do Vale, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, Brazil | [e] Krebs Institute of Biomolecular Research, Department of Chemistry, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2UH, UK | [f] NIDDK; National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Krebs Institute for Biomolecular Research, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2UH, UK. Tel.: +44 114 222 4375; Fax: +44 114 279 5495; E-mail: B.Helm@Sheffield.AC.UK.
Abstract: Adaptive immune responses characterised by the synthesis of antibodies of the immunoglobulin E (IgE) isotype play an important role in type I hypersensitivity disorders and parasitic infestations, diseases which have an significant socio-economic impact world-wide. This paper considers potential applications of recent advances in our understanding of the origin of isotype specific immune responses which emerged as a result of cell and protein engineering studies on components of the human IgE/receptor/effector system. Furthermore, the identification of the receptor binding regions in IgE as a result of the development of a stable assay system has important applications for the design of rational therapeutic interventions in allergy and asthma, the treatment of mast cell tumours, and the establishment of procedures for the selective isolation of cells expressing the high-affinity receptor for IgE for functional studies.
Keywords: Immunoglobulin (Ig)E, high-affinity receptor for IgE, allergy, parasitic infestations
