As more studies are carried out into the relationship between parasitic infections and allergies, evidences are increasing in showing that some of the susceptibility loci in human genome are shared among parasitic diseases, but also with immunological disorders as allergy, suggesting that parasites may have played a role in driving the evolution of the immune system.
In this concerns, the planned proposal is aimed to investigate the relationship between human host-genetics and allergic diseases phenotypes, related to the zoonotic species of the marine ascarid nematode, Anisakis.
Thus, one objective of the proposal is to carry out a genetic epidemiological study on Italian patients showing various allergic disorders, associated to a IgE-hypersensitization to Anisakis.
The presence of susceptibility loci at the HLA, and other genes involved in the Th2 response in humans, possibly associated with IgE-hypersensitization in Anisakiasis, showing allergic diseases, will be investigated.
Further, because the evolutionary dynamics of the host-parasite coevolution processes can lead to the selection of most adaptive genotypes also in a parasite species, a second objective of the proposal is aimed to investigate, the possible occurrence of genotypes of Anisakis likely associated with different allergic disorders in humans. In particular, the existence of genetic variants (SNPs) in target genes coding for functional immunogenic proteins of zoonotic species of Anisakis that could be correlated to phenotypic conditions of anisakiasis, will be investigated.
Disentangling a potential host-parasite genetic architecture of the allergic manifestation associated with IgE-hypersensitivity to Anisakis, has never been approached. Data acquired on allele variants in the HLA genes systems, potentially associated to allergy and related traits, in anisakiasis in Italy, will represent an advance of the research to be carried out, around the "debate" on "Anisakis-allergy".
