FIG 1.
Ingestion of peanut induces CTLA-4-expressing Treg cells that protect mice from peanut allergy caused by environmental peanut exposure. During peanut avoidance, exposure to environmental peanut through the airway or skin results in increased numbers of IL-4–producing follicular helper T (TFH) cells and germinal center (GC) B cells in tissue-draining lymph nodes, leading to increased levels of peanut-specific immunoglobulins and development of peanut allergy. In contrast, peanut consumption induces a Treg cell population that expresses high-levels of CTLA-4, which suppress TFH and GC B-cell expansion following environmental peanut exposure. This results in decreased production of peanut-specific immunoglobulins and development of tolerance to peanut. Created with BioRender.com.