When the weather changes, people often experience symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose, eye irritation, and throat tickling, which doctors attribute to allergic reactions. Allergies occur when the immune system perceives external particles as a threat and reacts to them. However, scientists from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts, affiliated with Harvard, have made a new discovery showing that allergies are linked not only to the immune system's reaction but also to sensory nerves capable of permanently remembering an allergy.
There is a question of how exactly sensory nerves form this memory, why a minor allergy can lead to the development of multiple diseases, and whether science has found a way to completely eliminate this allergy.
According to previous understanding, allergies are part of the immune system's response. For a long time, it was believed that allergies meant the activation of antibodies (IgE) and mast cells. Dr. Caroline Sokol, a lead researcher from Harvard, notes that an extensive network of sensory neurons is located in the upper layers of human skin, respiratory tract, and nose. When pollen or other airborne allergens enter the nose, they first contact these nerve cells, rather than immune cells.
Data published in The Washington Post and Science Journal Immunity explain the mechanism of this interaction: upon the first contact of an allergen with nasal nerves, even if immediate sneezing does not occur, a specific biological signaling pathway inside the nerve is activated. The nerve records this danger signal in its memory.
Medications such as antihistamines or nasal sprays help control allergies, but they only suppress symptoms for a few hours. As soon as the drug's effect wears off, the allergy returns. Studies on mouse models have shown that this neural allergy memory is not permanent; over time, it gradually weakens and fades. In this regard, scientists are working on developing molecules and drugs capable of specifically 'resetting' this pathological memory pathway in nerve cells.
If this neural memory can be erased, the body will begin to perceive pollen as ordinary air, allowing the person to get rid of allergies forever.
A recent report by The Washington Post confirms that science is beginning to understand diseases not only through superficial symptoms but also through the deep connection between the nervous system and the brain. This discovery paves the way for alleviating the condition of millions of patients suffering from allergies and asthma in the future.