“A peripheral immune mechanism involving local mast cells stimulated by food-induced local IgE may underlie the symptoms associated with IBS and functional abdominal pain; these findings prompt consideration of new therapeutic strategies to target mast cells and allergies.”
The article reviews the experimental methods/results used in both mice and humans. Mice that were treated with agents that interfered with allergy “including anti-IgE, mast-cell stabilizers, and histamine H1 receptor antagonists, attenuated the pathologic and symptomatic responses…mice [that were] deficient in mast cells or in histamine H1 receptor were protected” as well.
The study shows that a “bacterial infection can break oral tolerance to a dietary antigen…which in turn can lead to increased gut permeability.”
The findings in human “showed no evidence of systemic IgE against common foods” but localized reactions were identified in every IBS patient after allergen injection into rectal mucosa.
My take: This study adds to the evidence that specific foods can lead to localized tissue-specific allergic responses. Nevetheless, it is still a futile effort to look for systemic allergic food reactions in patients with IBS and functional GI disorders.
[…] An Allergic Basis for Abdominal Pain […]
By It Hurts Here and Here and Here | gutsandgrowth on October 18, 2021 at 7:03 am