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Stimulation of systemic antigen-specific IgE production plays an important role in the mediation of food allergy; however, the mechanism of IgE production against food antigens is not fully understood. The development of relevant animal models may help to elucidate the pathogenesis of food allergy. We here show that DBA/2 mice receiving a casein diet without any adjuvant produced high levels of IgE specific for casein, accompanied by predominant Th2-like responses in liver lymphocytes, mesenteric lymph node cells and spleen cells. This model of IgE production produced by feeding protein antigen as a constituent of the diet can be applied to investigate the mechanism of IgE production and to develop reagents for controlling food allergy.

A novel colourant for hair dyeing was prepared by an enzymatic reaction with (+)-catechin and its characteristics as a hair dyestuff were studied. The study is aimed at inventing the hair dyestuff that is human-and eco-friendly. One potentially powerful dyestuff was obtained from (+)-catechin treated with tyrosinase after screening experiments using biobased materials. The obtained reddish orange colourant, 4-(3,4-dihydro-3α,5,7-trihydroxy-2H-1-benzopyran-2α-yl) 1,2-benzoquinone named "catechinone", shows enough dyeability for decolourised white hair. Catechinone does not cause erythema or oedema on skin of rabbits. The colour is controlled by the addition of other biobased materials and a variety of colours of dyed hair are acquired. The colour fastness to light or washing for hair dyed by catechinone is high enough for practical use.

Background: Platinum-containing doublet chemotherapy regimens are generally considered the standard first-line systemic therapy for recurrent or metastatic (R/M) nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). Gemcitabine (GEM) plus cisplatin (CDDP) has become a standard therapy based on a phase 3 study in several countries, yet this regimen sometimes affects quality of life due to nausea or appetite loss. Here, we present the manageable toxicity and promising activity of paclitaxel + carboplatin + cetuximab (PCE) therapy for R/M NPC. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of patients with R/M NPC who were treated with PCE from 2013 to 2019 at the National Cancer Center East, Kashiwa, Japan. PCE consisted of PTX 100 mg/m 2 on days 1 and 8; CBDCA area under the blood concentration-time curve (AUC) 2.5 on days 1 and 8, repeated every 3 weeks; and cetuximab at an initial dose of 400 mg/m 2 , followed by 250 mg/m 2 weekly, as reported in the paper. Results: Fourteen patients were identified, consisting of 10 males and 4 females with a median age 59.6 years (range, 43-74). Among the 12 of 14 patients assessed for efficacy, overall response rate was 58.3%, with 2 complete responses and 5 partial responses. On median follow-up of 23.8 months, median overall survival was not reached with observed death events of 2. Median PFS was 4.1 months (95% CI, 2.6-5.6 months). Two patients experienced disease progression during cetuximab maintenance and restarted PCE treatment, then achieved partial response again. The most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events were neutropenia (21.4%) and skin reaction (14.3%). No treatment-related death was observed. Conclusion: Although the number of study population was small, our results suggest that PCE is feasible and potentially effective for R/M NPC, with a 58.3% response rate and 4.1-month PFS. Further prospective evaluation is warranted.