Allergy
-
Asthma is a heterogeneous disease and its different phenotypes need to be better characterized from a biochemical-inflammatory standpoint. This study aimed to apply the metabolomic approach to exhaled breath condensate (breathomics) to discriminate different asthma phenotypes, with a particular focus on severe asthma in children. ⋯ The metabolomic profiling of EBC could clearly distinguish different biochemical-metabolic profiles in asthmatic children and enabled the severe asthma phenotype to be fully discriminated. The breathomics approach may therefore be suitable for discriminating between different asthma metabolic phenotypes.
-
Anaphylaxis in an emergency setting - elicitors, therapy and incidence of severe allergic reactions.
Anaphylaxis is a severe potentially life-threatening hypersensitivity reaction with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 0.5-2.0%. The prevalence and incidence of anaphylactic reactions in Germany are unknown. We therefore assessed anaphylactic patients seen by emergency physicians in the Berlin area covering 4 million people. ⋯ Our data show that food products are frequent elicitors of severe allergic reactions in the general population including children and adults. It unravels a strong underuse of adrenaline by emergency physicians, not reflecting treatment protocols according to the current guidelines. As data obtained from allergists reveal a different rank order of elicitors, this study suggests that food-allergic adult patients may present a risk population and should receive more attention by allergists.
-
Specific immunotherapy via the subcutaneous or oral route is associated with local and, in some cases, systemic side effects and suffers from low patient compliance. Due to its unique immunological features, the skin represents a promising target tissue for effective and painless treatment of type I allergy. The current study was performed to compare the efficacy of transcutaneous immunotherapy via laser-generated micropores to subcutaneous injection. ⋯ Transcutaneous immunotherapy via laser microporation is equally efficient compared with conventional subcutaneous treatment but avoids therapy-associated boosting of systemic Th2 immunity. Immunotherapy via laser-microporated skin combines a painless application route with the high efficacy known from subcutaneous injections and therefore represents a promising alternative to established forms of immunotherapy.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Assessment of rebound and relapse following ecallantide treatment for acute attacks of hereditary angioedema.
Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare genetic disease characterized by unpredictable and recurring attacks of angioedema. This study assessed potential attack rebound and relapse following treatment with ecallantide, a plasma kallikrein inhibitor approved for HAE attack treatment. ⋯ Ecallantide was efficacious for treating acute HAE attacks. Relapse was observed in a small proportion of patients, and there was little evidence of rebound.