Are allergies caused by a mutation in our immune system’s DNA? If so, are allergic people more vulnerable to “normal” diseases?

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I know allergies are caused by something in our immune system being different.

What I thought, is that if the allergies are a fault in the DNA, they might take the place away from other diseases that the immunity system actually tries to block?

If the allergy replaces something in our immune system, can we be more vulnerable to things that aren’t even related to our allergy?

In: Biology

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Short answer: not really.

Long answer: not ELI5 friendly. Requires study of the development of the immune system and the various pathways of attack.

In a nutshell, a normal immune system responds to ALL FOREIGN BODIES, i.e. EVERYTHING that is not considered “yourself”. It deals with different types of particles differently, but the important thing is: most of this is done quietly and you don’t notice it unless it’s a major invasion. In people with allergies, for some reason the pathway overreacts to certain particles – it sends an army when one security guard would have been enough. Keep in mind though, it’s an OVERREACTION and not your body reacting to the “wrong thing”.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Allergies are caused by mutations of lots of different genes, some of which haven’t been studied before ([source](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4415518/#!po=9.11765)).

Allergies are caused by an immune response to antigens that aren’t pathogens. In other words, allergies are immune responses to things that wouldn’t have made us sick.

Fortunately, our immune system doesn’t get “maxed out” by exposure to antigens. So even if you have allergies, your immune system can still identify and make antibodies against real diseases.

The problem with allergies is secondary infections – all the phlegm provides a nice place for bacteria to flourish, and then you have a real infection on top of the allergic reaction.

Anonymous 0 Comments

No, they are not caused by mutation in DNA. Allergies are caused by the most part by the immune system “memory” – it’s supposed to remember dangerous things so it can react to protect us against them. Sometimes it makes mistakes and interprets things like pollen or specific proteins in strawberries or milk as dangerous and overreacts.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I’ve learned from reddit more than I’ve ever learned from school, but then again, i pay more attention to redditors than i ever did to teachers.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The immune system not only needs to be capable of fighting diseases, but it also needs to have tolerance, otherwise, it may either attack itself or our bodies or react to innocuous substances.

However, both of these things can happen; there are diseases, called autoimmune diseases, where the immune system targets certain tissues, and there’s also allergies, where the immune system reacts to harmless things (pollen, certain foods, dust, etc.)

So, like you said, yes, allergies are caused by modifications to the immune system. But these modifications affect the “tolerance” part of the immune system, and have no effect on the “target” part of it.

Anonymous 0 Comments

To stick with the theme of the thread and explain like you’re 5, imagine that everyone has internal imaginary “meters” each labeled with a different allergen. Every time the person interacts with that allergen, their meter goes up one point for that allergen.

Let’s use peanuts for an example in our test group of Bob and Sue. Bob’s internal peanut meter has 100000000000000 points on it, which means he can eat peanuts 100000000000000 times without having a reaction. He goes his whole life eating peanuts and is fine. Sue’s internal peanut meter only has 100 points on it. By the time she is 5, she has maxed out her meter and has developed an allergy to peanuts.

This is why some people go their whole lives eating a certain food, then one day becoming allergic. Everyone’s meters are arbitrarily “numbered”. That’s the best way I can explain without getting too sciencey!