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Review
. 2019 Jan;11(1):4-15.
doi: 10.4168/aair.2019.11.1.4.

Mechanisms by Which Atopic Dermatitis Predisposes to Food Allergy and the Atopic March

Elizabeth Huiwen Tham  1   2   3 , Donald Ym Leung  3   4
Affiliations
Review

Mechanisms by Which Atopic Dermatitis Predisposes to Food Allergy and the Atopic March

Elizabeth Huiwen Tham et al. Allergy Asthma Immunol Res. 2019 Jan.

Abstract

The Atopic march denotes the progression from atopic dermatitis (AD) to the development of other allergic disorders such as immunoglobulin (Ig) E-mediated food allergy, allergic rhinitis and asthma in later childhood. There is increasing evidence from prospective birth cohort studies that early-onset AD is a risk factor for other allergic diseases or is found in strong association with them. Animal studies now provide mechanistic insights into the pathways that may be responsible for triggering the progression from the skin barrier dysfunction seen in AD to epicutaneous sensitization, food allergy and allergic airway disorders. Recent large randomized controlled trials have demonstrated the efficacy of early interventions targeted at AD and food allergy prevention. These show great promise for research into future strategies aimed at prevention of the atopic march.

Keywords: Atopic march; allergic rhinitis, asthma, food allergy; atopic dermatitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no financial or other issues that might lead to conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. The atopic march. The figure shows the age at diagnosis of each allergic disease. Reproduced with permission from Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2018;120:131-7.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Emollient therapy for AD prevention. Early skin barrier protection with prophylactic emollient therapy might prevent AD development. Original source: J Allergy Clin Immunol 2014;134:818-23, an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
AD, atopic dermatitis; FLG, filaggrin; TSLP, thymic stromal lymphopoietin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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