Development of allergies and autoimmunity
Digital control of the skin and mucosal barrier damaging agents in the environment as well as digital monitoring of tissue barriers lie ahead encompassing novel digital technologies. There has been a steep rise in allergic and autoimmune diseases, reaching epidemic proportions and now affecting almost two billion people worldwide.
These diseases are more common in industrialized countries and their prevalence continues to rise in developing countries in parallel to urbanization and industrialization. Intact skin and mucosal barriers are crucial as they protect host tissues from
- infections,
- environmental toxins,
- pollutants and
- allergens.
A defective epithelial barrier of the affected tissues has been demonstrated in asthma, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, eosinophilic esophagitis, celiac disease, and inflammatory bowel disease. In addition, leakiness of the gut epithelium has been proposed to have a role in many other diseases with autoimmune and microinflammation etiology, such as
- diabetes,
- multiple sclerosis,
- systemic lupus erythematosus,
- ankylosing spondylitis,
- hepatitis,
- Parkinson’s disease,
- Alzheimer’s disease,
- obesity and
- autism spectrum disorders.
