Allergy sufferers may one day be able to erase the source of their congestion, itchy skin and swollen lips and throat thanks to two studies that have uncovered elusive immune cells that maintain allergies over the long haul, often for a lifetime.
A specialized type of immune cell called type 2 memory B cells or MBC2s hold the memory of proteins that cause allergies, two independent groups of researchers report February 7 in Science Translational Medicine. Memory B cells are important for long-lasting protection against infectious diseases, but this subset is primed to make the type of antibodies that lead to allergies.
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