[Pharmwaste] Phthalates predispose mice to allergies

[DeBiasi, Deborah (DEQ)]

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/phthalates-predisp
ose-mice-to-allergic-reactions/
Phthalates predispose mice to allergies. 
Mar 04, 2009 

Shigeno T, M Katakuse, T Fujita, Y Mukoyama and H Watanabe. 2009.
Phthalate ester-induced thymic stromal lymphopoietin mediates allergic
dermatitis in mice. Immunology 128:e849-57
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2567.2009.03094.x> . 
 
<http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122271056/abstract?CRETRY=1&
SRETRY=0> 
Synopsis by Negin P. Martin, Ph. D
<http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/Members/nmartin>  

Phthalates - commonly used plasticizers - modify the immune system to
make it more likely for mice to develop allergies. 

ShareThis <javascript:void(0)> 
Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) rubbed onto mouse skin changed the chemistry of
the rodents' immune system and made them more prone to developing
contact allergies, reports a new study published in the scientific
journal Immunology.
This is the first study to show how DBP modifies the mouse immune system
to predispose it to developing a type of allergy known as contact
hypersensitivity. The results support prior studies that have found a
connection between phthalates and allergies.
Allergies are an immune response to a substance that is not usually
harmful. The response, however, is often damaging and uncomfortable.
Contact hypersensitivity occurs when an individual becomes sensitized to
a chemical and the skin becomes inflamed after touching the substance.
The allergic reaction to poison ivy is the best known example of contact
hypersensitivity.
Roughly 20 percent of Americans suffer from allergies. Rapid increases
in the prevalence of allergies - especially among children in urban
areas - suggest that environmental factors play a role in predisposing
people to developing them.
Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) is an airborne environmental pollutant. It is a
plasticizer found in many common household products, toys, cosmetics and
health products. DBP is an endocrine disruptor associated with
developmental, metabolic and reproductive disorders. It has also been
shown to sensitize skin during immunological studies.
In this study, researchers sensitized mice to chemical mixtures by
rubbing them onto the left ears. During the sensitization process,
chemicals interact with proteins in the skin and are recognized as a
foreign body or an antigen by the immune system.
Five days later, they rubbed the same mixtures on the mice's right ears.
They noticed that the mixture that contained DBP caused an allergic
reaction. The mice ears became swollen after this second exposure. The
mice rubbed with the mixtures without the chemical did not react.
After testing the individual components of the mixture, scientists
discovered that DBP is the chemical that caused mice to elicit an immune
response after the second exposure. The first time the DBP-containing
substance was rubbed on a mouse's ear, it changed the protein chemistry
of the immune system to make it react more severely to consequent
exposures.
These findings suggest that exposure to environmental pollutants such as
DBP can contribute significantly to developing allergies.


Deborah L. DeBiasi 
Email:   Deborah.DeBiasi at deq.virginia.gov (NEW!)
WEB site address:  www.deq.virginia.gov 
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality 
Office of Water Permit Programs 
Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program 
PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents
www.deq.virginia.gov/vpdes/microconstituents.html 
Mail:          P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA  23218 
Location:  629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA  23219 
PH:         804-698-4028 
FAX:      804-698-4032 


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