Regulation of the IgE response

It is well established that IgE antibodies against allergens are a cause of hay fever and probably involved in other allergic diseases. A crucial role of IgE antibody in reaginic hypersensitivity suggests that regulation of IgE antibody formation is one of the fundamental treatments of allergic diseases. To achieve this goal, however, one has to learn cellular events involved in the antibody response. In principle, mechanisms of the IgE response to T dependent antigens are similar to those of the IgM and IgG classes. However, the IgE antibody response in experimental animals has characteristic features that are not easily demonstrated in the IgG response. A series of experiments suggested that the former is more susceptible to regulatory mechanisms than the latter, and that the immunocompetent cells involved are different in the two cases. In this review, the development of B lymphocytes committed for IgE antibody response and recent approaches for antigen-specific regulation will be briefly summarized, and possible mechanisms of isotype-specific regulation of the IgE response will be discussed.