Interleukin 10: the critical role of a pleiotropic cytokine in food allergy

Despite advances in research, the pathophysiology of food allergy has not yet been fully elucidated. IL-10 has both a pro-and anti-inflammatory effect on the development of food allergy and in order to understand its different immune-modulatory effects the factors that influence the inflammatory microenvironment need to be taken into account. Specific single nucleotide polymorphisms of the IL-10 gene seem to confer an increased risk of devel-oping food allergy, but to date there is a substantial lack of genome-wide association studies regarding the genetic and epigenetic underpinnings of the disease. Special interest has been drawn to the development of allergen-specific regulatory CD4+CD25+ T-cells secreting IL-10 in the immunotherapy of allergic diseases. In addition, a distinct population of human tolero-genic dendritic cells (DC), DC-10 seems to hold great potential and could potentially serve as a therapeutic tool to improve the management of food allergy. (C) 2019 SEICAP. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. on behalf of SEICAP.