Wet vacuum-cleaning and housedust-mite allergen.
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Allergens↗
Biomedical subjects
J Brostoff
Publications and source records attributed to J Brostoff.
Efficacy of traditional Chinese herbal therapy in adult atopic dermatitis.
There has been considerable interest in traditional Chinese herbal therapy (TCHT) as a new treatment for atopic dermatitis. To establish the efficacy and safety of this treatment, a daily decoction of a formula containing ten herbs that has been found to be beneficial in open studies was tested in a double-blind placebo-controlled study. 40 adult patients with longstanding, refractory, widespread, atopic dermatitis were randomised into two groups to receive 2 months' treatment of either the active formulation of herbs (TCHT) or placebo herbs, followed by a crossover to the other treatment after a 4-week washout period. The main outcome measures were extent and severity of erythema and surface damage as judged by standardised body scores. The patients' own assessments of the overall response to treatment were also sought. The geometric mean score for erythema at the end of active treatment was 12.6 (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.9 to 22.0) and at the end of the placebo phase was 113 (65 to 180). The geometric mean score for surface damage was 11.3 (5.8 to 21.8) and 111.0 (68 to 182), respectively. The 95% CI for the mean geometric ratio for the two values with active treatment was 0.04 to 0.22 for erythema (p less than 0.0005) and 0.04 to 0.27 for surface damage (p less than 0.0005). Of the 31 patients who completed the study and expressed a preference, 20 preferred that phase of the trial in which they received TCHT whereas 4 patients preferred placebo (p less than 0.02). There was a subjective improvement in itching (p less than 0.001) and sleep (p less than 0.078) during the TCHT treatment phase. No side-effects were reported by the patients although many commented on the unpalatability of the decoction. TCHT seems to benefit patients with atopic dermatitis. Palatability of the treatment needs to be improved and its safety assured.
Administration, Oral↗
Production of IgE complexes by allergen challenge in atopic patients and the effect of sodium cromoglycate.
Specific IgE complexes and symptoms of asthma and eczema were produced in two allergic patients by oral challenge with food allergen. Both symptoms and IgE complexes could be prevented by pre-treatment with oral sodium cromoglycate. The IgE complexes can fix complement and may therefore provide the vehicle of the "late" responses seen in immediate hypersensitivity. The central role of gut sensitivity is emphasised by the protection afforded by sodium cromoglycate both when given acutely, against the effects of an oral challenge, and when given continuously for asthma and eczema due to food allergy.
Adult↗
Immune complexes containing food proteins in normal and atopic subjects after oral challenge and effect of sodium cromoglycate on antigen absorption.
After ingestion of food, immune complexes containing food proteins as antigens were demonstrated in the serum of normal and atopic subjects. In the atopic patients challenged with the food to which they were sensitive, abnormal levels were detected. The same atopic patients pretreated with oral sodium cromoglycate had less antigen entry, diminished immune-complex formation, and no atopic symptoms. Tests for antigen entry and immune-complex formation after oral challenge may permit objective assessment of food allergy and may show whether drugs such as oral sodium cromoglycate are likely to benefit individual patients.
Absorption↗
An anomalous effect of allergen concentration on weal size elicited by skin testing for immediate hypersensitivity.
We report the finding of anomalous responses in the skin of atopic individuals when prick tested with serial dilutions of cocksfoot grass pollen extracts. Each pollen extract was standardized using RAST inhibition activity related to the WHO standard for IgE. 75% of the patients gave a larger weal area with an allergen concentration of 1:10(5) than with the next higher concentration, i.e. 1:10(4). Possible mechanisms whereby a larger skin weal is elicited with a lower concentration of allergen are discussed. This is not a rare finding and can be observed in patients undergoing routine skin testing in the clinic, even where extracts are diluted over a relatively narrow concentration range.
Allergens↗
'Barn allergy': asthma and rhinitis due to storage mites.
The differential diagnosis of asthma in farm workers is between a type I hypersensitivity to a pollen or dust allergen and a type III hypersensitivity to mould antigens. We describe asthma and rhinitis, and not farmer's lung, in a farming population due to the non-pyroglyphid grain storage mite. Before a diagnosis of farmers' lung due to mouldy hay is made in any patient whether or not precipitins to Micropolyspora faeni are present, skin tests for storage mite should be made. If these are positive a diagnosis of 'barn allergy' should be considered and a trial of sodium cromoglycate be given.
Adolescent↗
Standardization of radioallergosorbent test (RAST) and allergen extracts in terms of the WHO standard for IgE.
An 131I-labelled IgE myeloma, standardized against the WHO reference serum for IgE was bound in varying concentrations to discs bearing anti-human light chain. These were used to construct a calibration curve for the subsequent binding of 125I-labelled anti-IgE, thus relating 125I counts to WHO IgE units. The calibrated anti-IgE could then be used to measure the actual amount of specific IgE bound to an allergen disc in the radioallergosorbent test. Using this standardized system, soluble allergen extracts could then be assayed by their ability to inhibit the binding of a defined amount of specific IgE, thereby enabling their activity to be expressed in WHO IgE units.
Allergens↗
Skin-test anomaly.
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Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic↗
Sodium cromoglycate in intrinsic asthma.
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Asthma↗
Allergenic activity of fractions of cocksfoot (Dacylis glomerata) pollen.
A cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata) pollen extract has been fractionated by isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gel, the separated components extracted from the gel and assayed by three methods: prick tests in human skin, RAST and PCA tests in monkey skin. Prick testing in human skin showed that subjects responded differently to the separated components, indicating the presence of more than one antigenic determinant, and a profile of antibody activity against each fraction could be constructed. In general, good agreement was observed between RAST profiles and skin test profiles, although some patients who gave positive skin tests lacked circulating IgE and consequently did not give a RAST profile or a monkey PCA. These studies emphasize the current difficulty in attempting to isolate a single pure allergen from cocksfoot which can be used either diagnostically for the detection of pollen allergy, or for the standardization of diagnostic extracts.
Adolescent↗
Do fatty acids exert a specific effect on human lymphocyte transformation in vitro?
Both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids (FA) bound to albumin inhibit phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) transformation of human lymphocytes cultured in fetal calf serum (FCS). With two unsaturated FA inhibition is maintained, however, when saturated and unsaturated FA are added simultaneously the inhibition is abolished. When lymphochtes are cultured in human AB serum, fatty acids neither inhibit nor stimulate PHA transformation. The reasons for the difference between FCS and human serum are discussed. These results argue against reports that unsaturated FA plays an immunoregulatory role in humans.
ABO Blood-Group System↗
Defective yeast opsonization and C2 deficiency in atopic patients.
Twenty-seven per cent of atopic patients initially presenting with infantile eczema or hay fever were defective for yeast opsonization and 18% had low levels of C2; these deficiencies were mutually exclusive, suggesting that they are primary. Both defects were associated with each of four different atopic syndromes, some of which were related to certain HLA haplotypes.
Adolescent↗
Complexed IgE in atopy.
Evidence of circulating high-molecular-weight forms of IgE was found in 16 patients with hayfever and/or atopic eczema. This finding of what appears to be complexed IgE in the serum of atopic patients may help to elucidate the aetiology of atopy.
Antigen-Antibody Complex↗
Immune responses in patients with chronic Trichophyton rubrum infections.
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Adolescent↗
Histocompatibility antigens in atopy with special reference to eczema and hay fever.
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Adolescent↗
80% of patients with intrinsic asthma are homozygous for HLA W6. Is intrinsic asthma a recessive disease?
Of 26 patients with intrinsic asthma, 21 (81%) were homozygous for the histocompatibility antigen HLA-W6. Also, half the patients had complement defects, in particular low levels of C2. This is the first indication of a strong genetic component in intrinsic asthma, apart from that already known from family studies. These findings suggest that intrinsic asthma may be a recessive disease.
Asthma↗