[The TH2 theory in allergy]

Abstract

The allergic diseases are determined by genetics and thought to affect between 20 to 30 percent of general people in developed countries. The prevalence has increased in the last decade. The allergic diseases are characterised by an increase of B-lymphocytes' ability to produce IgE antibody; this synthesis of human IgE is a result of collaboration between subsets of T helper cells CD4+ and B cells. The functional property of Th cells has been studied recently, fundamentally Type 2, in the cooperation among IgE-producing B cells, mast cell, basophils and eosinophil in the allergic reaction. This concept is known as the Th2 theory in allergy.