A specific feedback by anti-IgE autoantibodies on the cytokine network in allergy.

During recent years we have shown that anti-IgE antibodies can have different biological functions. Depending on their epitope specificity they can be anaphylactogenic or not, they interfere with IgE binding to its receptor or not, and they enhance or inhibit IgE synthesis. Therefore we propose a theoretical model implying that anti-IgE autoantibodies are specific feed back molecules that neutralize IgE induced by the cytokine network. In the normal individual this system would be beneficial, where as the atopic individual, due to differences in its B cell repertoire, will produce the wrong type of anti-IgE antibody. The wrong type of anti-IgE antibody may even aggravate the disease as some of these autoantibodies may induce IgE synthesis or trigger effector cells that in turn generate a Th2 like cytokine pattern.