2023-09-01 12:27:58
A discovery by Inserm concerning mast cells, little-known immune cells, opens up new perspectives in the understanding and treatment of allergies. A recent study revealed the existence of seven subtypes of human mast cells, highlighting their complexity. This data opens the way to better personalization of antiallergic treatments, thus offering better chances of effectiveness and fewer adverse effects.
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Allergic pathologies are a worldwide public health problem. The World Health Organization (WHOWHO) ranks allergies as the fourth most common chronic disease. Currently, approximately 25 to 30% of the population suffers from some form of allergy, whether food, skin or respiratory. This figure could reach 50% by 2050. In this context, seeking to better understand the biological mechanisms underlying allergies is necessary to develop more precise and effective treatments. This is the objective of a Toulouse team whose recent work has been published in the journal Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Dossier: deciphering allergies
Mast cells, key cells in allergic pathology
Mast cells are little-known cells. Depending on the pathologies, their role is sometimes beneficial and sometimes harmful. They are divided into two families, the “CTMC”, mainly present in the skin, and the “MMC”, mainly present in the intestinal mucous membrane. Their difficult extraction from tissues makes their study complex. The Toulouse team used innovative single-cell sequencing technology to analyze mast cells more precisely in mice and humans. This allowed them to reveal that there are not two, but seven different mast cell subtypes, each with distinct characteristics and functions.
Thus, a first “digital cartography” of human mast cells was created. It helps to understand the natural diversity of mast cells in allergic pathologies. The researchers plan to continue to study mast cells in various pathological contexts to enrich this mapping and make it even more precise.
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