Environmental exposures may, however, also modify health outcomes postnatally by high throughput screening assay affecting the innate and adaptive immune responses. Moreover, genetic factors are clearly of importance for the incidence of asthma and allergies, but our journey into

the discovery of relevant genes for allergic diseases has just begun. It seems likely that no single gene will be responsible for the clinical manifestation of any allergic illness. Rather, polymorphisms in many genes interacting with environmental influences at various time-points of development are likely to contribute to the mechanisms underlying the various atopic conditions. Several immunological concepts have been proposed to account for the hygiene hypothesis. First, the skewing of the T helper type 1 (Th1)/Th2 balance away from allergy-promoting Th2

towards Th1 cells has been at the centre of attention [2]. The link between the Th1/Th2 balance and allergic diseases is mediated in part by immunoglobulin (Ig)E: Th2 cells, by secreting interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13, promote immunoglobulin class switch recombination to IgE [3]. This notion has, however, been debated and conflicting data cannot be disregarded. Not only has the prevalence of Th2-related diseases such as allergies been increasing during recent decades, but so also has the prevalence of autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s disease and diabetes mellitus [4,5]. Furthermore, helminthic JQ1 price infections favouring Th2-type immune responses have been shown to be protective for the development of allergic diseases [6]. In vitro and animal data have shown that activation of the

innate immune system does not necessarily promote a Th1 response, but that Th2 responses may also occur, depending upon the experimental conditions [7]. Therefore, regulation of the Th1/Th2 balance through regulatory T Palmatine cells and Th17 cells may contribute to the development of both allergic and autoimmune illnesses. Not only effector cells, but also cells of the innate immune response recognizing microbial signals such as dendritic cells may occupy a central role in controlling immune responses. Their importance for the development of allergies has been well documented [8,9]. A number of surveys have suggested that infections with hepatitis A might protect from the development of allergy [11–13], but others could not confirm these results [14–16]. All studies used a positive serology to hepatitis A as a marker of past disease. However, a positive serology and an inapparent hepatitis A infection may simply be a proxy of other unhygienic environmental exposures. However, immunological characteristics of hepatitis A virus may suggest a truly allergy-modulating effect. The receptor for the hepatitis A virus is TIM-1 (T cell, immunoglobulin and mucin) [10].