Seminars in Immunopathology

, Volume 34, Issue 5, pp 655–669 | Cite as

Early life precursors, epigenetics, and the development of food allergy

Review
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Food allergy (FA), a major clinical and public health concern worldwide, is caused by a complex interplay of environmental exposures, genetic variants, gene–environment interactions, and epigenetic alterations. This review summarizes recent advances surrounding these key factors, with a particular focus on the potential role of epigenetics in the development of FA. Epidemiologic studies have reported a number of nongenetic factors that may influence the risk of FA, such as timing of food introduction and feeding pattern, diet/nutrition, exposure to environmental tobacco smoking, prematurity and low birth weight, microbial exposure, and race/ethnicity. Current studies on the genetics of FA are mainly conducted using candidate gene approaches, which have linked more than 10 genes to the genetic susceptibility of FA. Studies on gene–environment interactions of FA are very limited. Epigenetic alteration has been proposed as one of the mechanisms to mediate the influence of early life environmental exposures and gene–environment interactions on the development of diseases later in life. The role of epigenetics in the regulation of the immune system and the epigenetic effects of some FA-associated environmental exposures are discussed in this review. There is a particular lack of large-scale prospective birth cohort studies that simultaneously assess the interrelationships of early life exposures, genetic susceptibility, epigenomic alterations, and the development of FA. The identification of these key factors and their independent and joint contributions to FA will allow us to gain important insight into the biological mechanisms by which environmental exposures and genetic susceptibility affect the risk of FA and will provide essential information to develop more effective new paradigms in the diagnosis, prevention, and management of FA.

Keywords

Genetics Environmental exposure Epigenetics Food allergy 

Abbreviation

ACSL

Actyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family, member 3

AIMs

Ancestry informative markers

BBC

Boston Birth Cohort

CTLA4

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein 4

CYP24A1

Cytochrome P450, family 24, subfamily A, polypeptide 1

DCs

Dendritic cells

DNMT

DNA methyltransferase

ETS

Environmental tobacco smoke

FA

Food allergy

FCER1G

Fc fragment of IgE, high affinity I, receptor for gamma polypeptide

FLG

Filaggrin

FOXP3

Forkhead box P3

FS

Food sensitization

GSTP1

Glutathione S-transferase pi 1

GWA

Genome-wide association

HDACs

Histone deacetylase

IFNG

Interferon, gamma

IgE

Immunoglobulin E

IL

Interleukin

IL12RB1

IL12 receptor, beta 1

IL4RA

IL4 receptor alpha

LBW

Low birth weight

MS4A2

Membrane-spanning 4-domains, subfamily A, member 2

NHANES

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

NLRP3

NLR family, pyrin domain containing 3

PGE2

Prostaglandin E2

PTPRO

Protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type O

LC-PUFAs

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids

SPINK5

Serine peptidase inhibitor, Kazal type 5

STAT6

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 6

TNFα

Tumor necrosis factor, alpha

T reg

T regulatory

TSLP

Thymic stromal lymphopoietin

TLR

Toll-like receptor

VDD

Vitamin D deficiency

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Notes

Acknowledgments

Drs. Wang and Hong have been supported in part by the Food Allergy Initiative, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (PI: Wang, R21AI079872, R21AI088609, U01AI090727), and the Department of Defense (PI: Wang, W81XWH-10-1-0123). We thank Tami Bartell for the English editing.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Center on the Early Life Origins of Disease, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Bloomberg School of Public HealthJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreUSA
  2. 2.Center on the Early Life Origins of Disease, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Bloomberg School of Public HealthJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreUSA

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