Allergic diseases refer to tissue damage or physiological dysfunction caused by stimulation of the body by food, inhalation (dust mites, pollen, fungi, etc.), and other antigenic substances (also known as allergens). Allergic bronchial asthma (asthma) is a chronic airway inflammatory disease associated with airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), accompanied by recurrent episodes of wheezing, dyspnea, and coughing. Endotoxins are toxic substances in the outer membrane of certain Gram-negative bacteria. These molecules bind to the bacterial cell wall and are released when the bacteria rupture or divide. Endotoxin has strong pro-inflammatory properties, and studies have confirmed that inhalation of endotoxin can induce airway narrowing and airway hyperresponsiveness in asthmatic patients. The study found that endotoxin exposure was positively correlated with the increasing rate and severity of asthma, and the airways of neutrophil asthmatic patients were more prone to bacterial proliferation, thus producing higher levels of endotoxin.
Figure 1. Early Life Exposure to E. coli Lipid A Induces Endotoxin Tolerance to Prevent Autoimmune and Allergic Disease. (Feehley T, et al., 2016)
With the development of the social economy and the reduction of infectious diseases, the incidence of allergic asthma increases. Endotoxin, Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), is a unique pathogen-associated molecular pattern of Gram-negative bacteria, which induces an immune response by stimulating the pattern recognition receptor TLR4 on the surface of host cells. Existing studies have shown that exposure to endotoxin in the living environment is positively correlated with the occurrence of allergic asthma and leads to inflammatory lung disease. The researchers established an allergic asthma model by inhaling LPS-containing allergens and found that applying allergens alone in the airways of mice would not cause allergic asthma, but adding endotoxin to the allergens would cause allergic asthma responses, further confirming that endotoxins are a risk-trigger for allergic asthma. Based on this, there is a need for a more complete system to prevent and diagnose the development of the disease. At present, the detection of endotoxin has a complete set of procedures, which can conveniently and quickly detect the level of endotoxin in the body fluid of patients to assist in judging the occurrence of allergic diseases, which has positive therapeutic significance for clinical application.
Endotoxins and allergens are the main components in atmospheric bioaerosols associated with the initiation and exacerbation of allergic diseases, and continuous exposure to endotoxins may promote inflammation and increase the occurrence of asthma. Many studies have pointed to differences in endotoxin levels in different residential environments and an association between endotoxins in house dust and asthma incidence. The endotoxin level is analyzed by the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) test, which can accurately and quickly detect whether the internal tissues of the human body are caused by bacterial infection. In pharmaceutical, clinical, and scientific research for the detection of bacterial endotoxins, the LAL assay has proved to be an inexpensive, simple, yet reliable method of detecting small amounts of endotoxins. What's more, it can be used as an effective tool for clinical diagnosis to improve the prevention of allergic diseases.
Creative BioMart can provide a series of comprehensive and accurate endotoxin detection services and a variety of endotoxin removal kits, which are convenient for you to use in scientific research. If you are interested in our applications, please contact us for more details.
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