Why we have to redefine the term “allergy”
Science usually defines an allergy as an overreaction of the immune system to normally harmless environmental substances (allergens). Often it is also suggested that the immune system is faulty. Now the causes are known and published, so we need to explain the term “allergy” in a different way.
A new definition of allergy
An allergy is the most violent reaction of the immune system to a foreign substance (allergen), which has managed to penetrate the outer barrier of the skin, through the so-called tight junctions, which have been destroyed or opened by enzymes. The sensitized immune system then tries to destroy this intruder by all the means at its disposal. This defence is often accompanied by violent reactions in allergic individuals, such as watery eyes and runny nose, asthma or rashes.
How do you recognize an allergy?
The main characteristic of an allergy is the formation of IgE (immunoglobulin E) in the body. This is the body's natural weapon for fighting invaders. For allergy sufferers, this means that an allergen has already passed through the skin even though there is no apparent wound or blood. If an allergen passes through the skin, then there is an allergic reaction; if the allergen cannot pass through the skin, then there is no allergic reaction.
How an allergen passes through the skin
Human skin cells are closely linked, thereby forming a barrier, so that usually nothing is able to penetrate the surface. The junction between two skin cells consists of protein gates, which are referred to as “tight junctions”. They hold the cells together and allow the skin to excrete unwanted waste products and admit recognised substances. If these tight junctions are destroyed, anything small enough can enter the body, such as parts of grass pollen or other allergens. As long as the grass pollen constituents cannot penetrate the skin and enter the body, they are harmless. A healthy skin ensures that such allergens do not get into the body.
War of the molecules on a nanometric scale
The tight junctions are very small - a thousand times smaller than pollen - so pollen cannot enter the body. However, the pollen enzyme within the pollen is even smaller - smaller than the distance between two cells. Pollen enzymes and tight junctions are measured in the scale of nanometers (millionths of a meter). When the tight junctions are closed, a pollen allergy sufferer has no hay fever. However, when the tight junctions are open, either temporarily by a secondary process or actually destroyed, then the pollen enzyme can enter the body and the immune system reacts vigorously to this enemy. The battle of the immune system against the allergen takes place at the molecular level and in the nanometric range.
An allergic person needs to know what materials are destroying, or unintentionally opening, his tight junctions. He also needs to know the rules of how to prevent the destruction, or accidental opening, of the tight junctions because when the tight junctions remain closed there is no allergy.
