Robert Cooke

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For the UK politician (fl. 1960s), see Robert Cooke (UK politician)

In 1916 Robert Cooke and Albert Vandeveer demonstrated the role of heredity in the origins of allergy. According to Cooke, 48% of his allergic patients had allergies in their family history. While the trait of allergy is transmitted through heredity, parents and children may be allergic to different substances.

In 1918, Dr. Cooke suggested a mechanism of action for allergen injections as a "desensitization or hyposensitization," analogous to tolerance achieved in experimental anaphylaxis induced in animals. This concept suggested that the injections of an increasing amount of allergen or antigen slowly neutralized those antibodies responsible for the allergic reaction.