Environmental exposure trains the immune system to dampen allergic responses

Nature News · Feb 25, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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NEWS AND VIEWS 25 February 2026 Clean living conditions that lessen exposure to microorganisms are linked to an increase in allergies. Mouse data reveal how the environment affects allergic immune responses. By Talal A. Chatila0 Talal A. Chatila Talal A. Chatila is in the Division of Immunology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA, and in the Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston. The prevalence of allergic diseases in humans has increased markedly in modern times, coinciding with profound environmental and lifestyle changes that arose during the Industrial Revolution1. Perhaps the most influential proposal put forward to explain this surge in allergies is the hygiene hypothesis, which posits that the rise in allergic diseases reflects a drop in immune protection owing to people’s decreased exposure to microorganisms2. Writing in Nature, Erickson et al.3 provide evidence about how environmental exposure to allergy-triggering molecules helps to shape whether certain allergic reactions occur. Access options Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription 27,99 € / 30 days cancel any time Subscribe to this journal Receive 51 print issues and online access 185,98 € per year only 3,65 € per issue Rent or buy this article Prices vary by article type from$1.95 to$39.95 Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout Additional access options: Log in Learn about institutional subscriptions Read our FAQs Contact customer support Nature 650, 838-839 (2026) doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00040-x ReferencesPlatts-Mills, T. A. E. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 136, 3–13 (2015).Article PubMed Google Scholar Perkin, M. R. & Strachan, D. P. Front. Allergy 3, 1051368 (2022).Article PubMed Google Scholar Erickson, S., Lauring, B., Cullen, J. & Medzhitov, R. Nature 650, 987–996 (2026).Article Google Scholar Martinez, F. D. & Holt, P. G. Lancet 354 (Suppl. 2), SII12–SII15 (1999).Article PubMed Google Scholar Rosshart, S. P. et al. Science 365, aaw4361 (2019).Article Google Scholar Beura, L. K. et al. Nature 532, 512–516 (2016).Article PubMed Google Scholar Stephen-Victor, E., Crestani, E. & Chatila, T. A. Immunity 53, 277–289 (2020).Article PubMed Google Scholar Stein, M. M. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 375, 411–421 (2016).Article PubMed Google Scholar Trogen, B., Jacobs, S. & Nowak-Wegrzyn, A. Nutrients 14, 2565 (2022).Article PubMed Google Scholar Download references Competing Interests T.A.C. is an inventor on published US patent application US10391131, which covers methods and compositions for the prevention and treatment of food allergy using microbial treatments. He is co-founder of Aleca Therapeutics and Belcanto, and has served as a consultant for Boxer Capital and Sanofi. Related Articles Read the paper: Environmentally driven immune imprinting protects against allergy Allergy-triggering proteins share a common characteristic The immunology that underlies picky eating See all News & Views Subjects Latest on: Immunology Medical research Peripheral immune-inducer dendritic cells drive early-life allergic inflammation Article 25 FEB 26 OR7A10 GPCR engineering boosts CAR-NK therapy against solid tumours Article 25 FEB 26 COVID’s origins: what we do and don’t know Comment 24 FEB 26 The age of animal experiments is waning. Where will science go next? News Feature 25 FEB 26 Lipid nanoparticles engineered to target therapeutic RNA to the pancreas News & Views 25 FEB 26 Stem cells provide a potent treatment for frailty News 25 FEB 26