Eczema affects about 17 percent of children in developed countries. Often, it’s a gateway to food allergy and asthma, initiating an “atopic march” toward broader allergic sensitization. There are treatments – steroid creams and a recently approved biologic – but they are expensive or have side effects. A new study in Science Immunology suggests a different approach to eczema, one that stimulates a natural brake on the allergic attack.

The skin inflammation of eczema is known to be driven by “type 2” immune responses. These are led by activated T helper 2 (TH2) cells and type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), together known as effector cells. Another group of T cells, known as regulatory T cells or T_regs, are known to temper type 2 responses, thereby suppressing the allergic response.

Yet, if you examine an eczema lesion, the numbers of T_regs are unchanged. Interestingly, T_regs comprise only about 5 percent of the body’s T cells, but up to 50 percent of T cells in the skin. …