Research: The Relationship Between Dectin-1 and Allergies
Abstract:
Allergies are harmful reactions that occur in your body whenever your body comes in contact with foreign substances. Some of these allergens include peanuts, seafood, cats, and dogs. After someone is exposed to an allergy, they often experience anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a time when you would have trouble breathing. Some other symptoms include vomiting, an itchy throat, and even death. Many experiments, including Gour et. al (20??), have found a receptor called dectin-1. Dectin-1 is a receptor in your body that is found in the lungs and it helps to defend the body from allergic reactions. The question is finding out whether dectin-1 can defend the body from all allergic reactions since as of right now, scientists have only tested it on mice with the allergen being House Dust Mites. In Gour et al., the scientists had a big group of mice and they split them up into two groups. Both groups of mice were exposed to house dust mite extract and one group had dectin-1 and the other did not. Over 24 days, the scientists doubled the amount of HDM extract in the mice and they observed to see what would happen to the mice. For my experiment, I would use the same methods but I would use different allergens instead. At the end of the experiment, it was concluded that dectin-1 was able to defend the mice from the allergic reaction from occurring. This was concluded based on the amount of mucus collected in the lungs of the mice. From this, they concluded that dectin-1 can defend mice from allergies involving HDM. They also expect the same results if this was tested on humans. For my results, I would expect the same results since dectin-1 is able to recognize any foreign substances in the body. Even with different allergens, dectin-1 would be able to defend the body from all allergic reactions. These results should also apply to humans. Dectin-1 has proven itself that it can defend the body from allergic reactions involving HDM and it is expected that future research will show it’s effectiveness against other types of allergens.
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