International archives of allergy and immunology
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Int. Arch. Allergy Immunol. · Jan 2006
Variability of Ole e 9 allergen in olive pollen extracts: relevance of minor allergens in immunotherapy treatments.
Clustered severe adverse reactions to immunotherapy with olive pollen extracts have been occasionally reported in areas where olive trees are extensively grown. Allergic patients from these areas, in addition to the major olive pollen allergen Ole e 1, frequently recognize a recently described allergen, Ole e 9. ⋯ The availability of a mAb-based ELISA for Ole e 9 made it possible for us to detect an important source of variability in olive pollen batches. This variability may be the cause of outbreaks of adverse reactions in the course of immunotherapy treatments, which have sometimes been observed among olive-allergic patients living in areas with very high levels of airborne olive pollen.
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Int. Arch. Allergy Immunol. · Jan 2006
Case ReportsCross-sensitization between poppy seed and buckwheat in a food-allergic patient with poppy seed anaphylaxis.
The opium poppy, Papaver somniferum L., is the source of both poppy seeds and opium. The commercially available seeds are widely used as ingredients for various kinds of food. ⋯ We report the case of a 17-year-old female with an apparently food-allergic reaction after ingestion of a poppy seed cake. Allergological workup revealed a poppy seed anaphylaxis and led to the identification of a novel cross-sensitization with buckwheat.
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Int. Arch. Allergy Immunol. · Oct 2005
Possible relationship between systemic side effects and sensitization to rPar j 2 in allergic patients submitted to an ultra-rush (20 min) sublingual immunotherapy and selected by component resolved diagnosis.
The pollen of Parietaria spp., a weed of the Urticaceae family, is a major cause of respiratory allergy in the Mediterranean area, where the most common species are Parietaria judaica and Parietaria officinalis. In this study, we evaluated the specific serum IgE-binding profiles to individual P. judaica pollen recombinant major allergen, and Phleum pratense cytoskeletal profilin and a 2-EF-hand calcium-binding allergen homologous to cross-reactive Parietaria pollen allergens, in patients allergic to pollen with positive skin test towards Parietaria spp. extract. ⋯ In the light of present findings, allergen extract-based diagnosis, in vivo and in vitro, cannot discriminate allergic patients that are genuinely sensitized to Parietaria spp. major allergens or to other major allergens to which current immunotherapeutic allergy extracts are standardized. Therefore, in vitro component resolved diagnosis is the unique tool to define the disease eliciting molecule(s). Finally, during sublingual immunotherapy, not only the dose of allergen, but also the biochemical characteristic of the major allergen administered may be an important factor in determining possible systemic reactions.
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Int. Arch. Allergy Immunol. · Oct 2005
Matrix metalloproteinase-12 and cathepsin D expression in pulmonary macrophages and dendritic cells of cigarette smoke-exposed mice.
An imbalance between proteinases and their inhibitors is believed to play an essential role in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary emphysema. COPD is mainly caused by cigarette smoking, and is characterized by an increase in inflammatory cells in small airways and lung parenchyma. We examined the mRNA expression of several proteinases in lungs of mice exposed to cigarette smoke or control air. ⋯ Immunohistochemistry clearly revealed the expression of Cathepsin D protein in alveolar macrophages of cigarette smoke-exposed mice, in contrast to air-exposed littermates. Western blots on lung tissue demonstrated an increase of MMP-12 protein in cigarette smoke-exposed animals. These results indicate that cigarette smoke increases the expression of MMP-12 and Cathepsin D in the lungs of mice, and that not only macrophages but also DCs produce MMP-12.
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Int. Arch. Allergy Immunol. · Sep 2005
Comparative StudyCharacteristic features of allergic airway inflammation in a murine model of infantile asthma.
The pathophysiology of infantile asthma may differ from that in older children or in adults, partly because of the different immune response depending upon maturation. In adult mice, the sensitizing dose of antigen is known to be critical to the polarized development of helper T cell subsets and allergic airway inflammation. We wanted to know the characteristics of allergic airway inflammation of infantile asthma by developing a murine model. ⋯ GCM and, consequently, airway mucus hypersecretion may be an important component of allergic airway inflammation in infantile asthma.