부산대학교 도서관

Chronic urticaria may be characterized by conditional autoantibodies against the α-chain of the high-affinity receptor for IgE (FcεRI). These autoantibodies are termed conditional as they only recognize unoccupied FcεRI. The same conditional reactivity pattern has also been found in sera of atopic and normal healthy donors. Any condition resulting in accessibility of FcεRI will render these autoantibodies anaphylactogenic. This finding offers a unifying hypothesis for the manifestation of different forms of urticaria. Non-immunologic triggers may thereby influence directly or indirectly the number of accessible FcεRI allowing the conditional autoantibodies to induce urticaria symptoms.