Paving the way of systems biology and precision medicine in allergic diseases: the MeDALL success story

J. Bousquet, J. M. Anto, M. Akdis, C. Auffray, T. Keil, I. Momas, D.S. Postma, R. Valenta, M. Wickman, A. Cambon‐Thomsen, T. Haahtela, B. N. Lambrecht, K. C. Lodrup Carlsen, G. H. Koppelman, J. Sunyer, T. Zuberbier, I. Annesi‐Maesano, A. Arno, C. Bindslev‐Jensen, G. De Carlo, F. Forastiere, J. Heinrich, M. L. Kowalski, D. Maier, E. Melén, S. Palkonen, H. A. Smit, M. Standl, J. Wright, A. Asarnoj, M. Benet, N. Ballardini, J. Garcia‐Aymerich, U. Gehring, S. Guerra, C. Hohman, I. Kull, C. Lupinek, M. Pinart, I. Skrindo, M. Westman, D. Smagghe, C. Akdis, R. Albang, V. Anastasova, N. Anderson, C. Bachert, S. Ballereau, F. Ballester, X. Basagana, A. Bedbrook, A. Bergstrom, A. von Berg, B. Brunekreef, E. Burte, K. H. Carlsen, L. Chatzi, J. M. Coquet, M. Curin, P. Demoly, E. Eller, M. P. Fantini, B. Gerhard, H. Hammad, L. von Hertzen, V. Hovland, B. Jacquemin, J. Just, T. Keller, M. Kerkhof, R. Kiss, M. Kogevinas, S. Koletzko, S. Lau, I. Lehmann, N. Lemonnier, R. McEachan, M. Mäkelä, J. Mestres, E. Minina, P. Mowinckel, R. Nadif, M. Nawijn, S. Oddie, J. Pellet, I. Pin, D. Porta, F. Rancière, A. Rial‐Sebbag, Y. Saeys, M. J. Schuijs, V. Siroux, C. G. Tischer, M. Torrent, R. Varraso, J. De Vocht, K. Wenger, S. Wieser, C. Xu

MeDALL Mechanisms of the Development of ALLergy; EU FP7-CP-IP; Project No: 261357; 20 (10) -2015 proposed an innovative approach to develop early indicators for the prediction, diagnosis, prevention and targets for therapy(.) MeDALL linked epidemiological, clinical and basic research using a stepwise, large-scale and integrative approach: precisely phenotyped children followed in 14 birth cohorts spread across Europe were combined with systems biology omics, IgE measurement using micro-arrays and environmental data(.) Multimorbidity in the same child is more common than expected by chance alone, suggesting that these diseases share causal mechanisms irrespective of IgE sensitisation(.) IgE sensitisation should be considered differently in mono and polysensitized individuals(.) Allergic multimorbidities and IgE polysensitization are often associated with the persistence or severity of allergic diseases(.) Environmental exposures are relevant for the development of allergy-related diseases(.) To complement the population-based studies in children, MeDALL included mechanistic experimental animal studies and in vitro studies in humans(.) The integration of multimorbidities and polysensitization has resulted in a new classification framework of allergic diseases that could help to improve the understanding of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of allergy as well as to better manage allergic diseases(.) Ethics and gender were considered(.) MeDALL had translational activities deployed within the EU agenda(.) This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.