There are three famous types of hay fever in the world. They are said to be the three major types of hay fever in the world, along with grass hay fever in the UK, ragweed hay fever in the US, and cedar hay fever in Japan. Hay fever was born in 1819 during the Victorian era under the name “summer catarrhal”. In England, attacks of “summer catarrhal” began during the haymaking season. Interestingly, this attack appeared with the Industrial Revolution and became particularly common among clergymen and doctors who valued cleanliness. This “summer catarrhal” did not occur in farmers who were covered in hay. This hay fever appeared mainly in Nikko as cedar hay fever in Japan, which grew rapidly a century later than America.
In Japan, people infected with parasites do not suffer from hay fever. So why do people infected with parasites not suffer from hay fever? In the case of cedar pollen allergy, when cedar pollen enters the body, the body recognizes it as a foreign body. When cedar pollen is recognized as a foreign body, an antibody called IgE is produced to attack cedar pollen. An antibody called IgE (immunoglobulin E) is produced to attack cedar pollen. IgE antibodies attach to the surface of mast cells one after another. However, if only one IgE antibody is attached to the mast cell, nothing changes. Symptoms appear the next time the same cedar pollen enters the body. It is only when the antibody that caught the second cedar pollen attaches to the surface of the mast cell that the mast cell is broken, and histamine and other substances are released and damage the surrounding tissues, causing symptoms. The parasite works to prevent this second cedar pollen from coming into contact with the mast cell.
In order to prevent allergic symptoms, it is necessary to attach the secretions of the parasite to the mast cell in advance. With this system, Japanese people almost never experienced symptoms from cedar pollen until 30 years ago. Professor David Baker of the University of Washington was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024. In 2003, he succeeded in synthesizing an artificial protein called “Top7” consisting of 93 amino acids. The production of this new protein also makes it possible to apply advanced AI technology. This was able to predict protein structure and dramatically improve the accuracy of the prediction. If it were possible to predict unknown proteins in a short time and realize practical use in a short time, it would be possible to create substances equivalent to the secretions of parasites. If such substances could be freely created, it could be a huge business opportunity.
