J Invest Allerg Clin
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J Invest Allerg Clin · Jan 2012
Diagnosis of patients with immediate hypersensitivity to beta-lactams using retest.
beta-Lactams are the drugs most frequently involved in hypersensitivity reactions mediated by immunoglobulin (Ig) E. ⋯ These results indicate that a diagnostic protocol based on the combination of skin testing and in vitro determination of specific IgE antibodies plus, if required, drug provocation testing is an appropriate procedure for evaluating immediate hypersensitivity reactions to beta-lactams. Because the sensitivity of skin testing and in vitro IgE assays is not optimal and a considerable proportion of patients are tolerant, drug provocation tests are necessary to achieve the diagnosis or confirm tolerance. A large percentage of patients (23%) were diagnosed using retest.
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J Invest Allerg Clin · Jan 2012
Lack of association of programmed cell death 1 gene (PDCD1) polymorphisms with susceptibility to chronic urticaria in patients with positive autologous serum skin test.
Autoimmune mechanisms play an important role in the pathophysiology of chronic urticaria (CU), and the autologous serum skin test (ASST) helps to identify patients with autoreactive CU. One of the factors involved in autoreactive mechanisms is the cell surface receptor programmed death-1 which is encoded by the programmed cell death 1 gene (PDCD1). ⋯ PD1.3 and PD1.5 polymorphisms were not proven to be implicated in susceptibility to ASST-positive CU in the Polish population. A more comprehensive analysis of the 2q33-2q37 genomic region might reveal whether variants of 1 or more of the genes in this region are involved in susceptibility to CU.
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J Invest Allerg Clin · Jan 2011
Comparative StudyEnhanced diagnosis of pollen allergy using specific immunoglobulin E determination to detect major allergens and panallergens.
Pollen is one of the main causes of allergic sensitization. It is not easy to make an etiological diagnosis of pollen-allergic patients because of the wide variety of sensitizing pollens, association with food allergy, and increasing incidence of polysensitization, which may result from the presence of allergens that are common to different species, as is the case of panallergens. ⋯ Sensitization to panallergens could be a confounding factor in the diagnosis of polysensitized pollen-allergic patients as well as a marker for food allergy. However, more studies are required to further investigate the role of these molecules.
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J Invest Allerg Clin · Jan 2011
Chronic autoimmune urticaria: frequency and association with immunological markers.
Chronic autoimmune urticaria (CAU), a subgroup of chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU), is characterized by severe and persistent wheals accompanied by redness and itching. Diagnosis is almost completely based on clinical suspicion and the results of the autologous serum skin test (ASST). ⋯ ASST remains a baseline diagnostic test for CAU. Patients with CAU had more frequent attacks and higher antithyroid antibody titers and peripheral B-cell percentages, as well as lower absolute eosinophil counts and serum IgE concentrations.