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Biomedical subjects

J W Willoughby

Publications and source records attributed to J W Willoughby.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

New concepts in immunotherapy.

Various routes of immunotherapy (injection, intranasal, oral) using lyophilized, aqueous, glycerinated, and modified allergenic extracts have all produced blocking antibodies and symptomatic improvement. No single, empirical predetermined maintenance or optimal dose of allergenic extract right for every patient, can be predicted, nor can immunotherapy be administered to patients without possible adverse reactions. Patients are at a lesser risk of anaphylaxis when immunotherapy dosage is escalated to the optimal maintenance dose. The AU/mL (Amb a I) ragweed AgE, or weight/volume dose required to produce maximum IgG blocking antibody varies with each patient, indicating that not all patients require or tolerate the same optimal immunotherapeutic dose. Immunotherapy patient failures may be the result of inadequate treatment dose potency or failure to include relevant allergens. Allergen-specific IgG monitoring during immunotherapy can provide an objective method to identify allergens that could safely be escalated to a more potent immunotherapy dose.

Allergens↗
PubMed1983

Serum concentrations of allergen-specific IgG antibodies in inhalant allergy: effect of specific immunotherapy.

The occurrence of antibodies belonging to IgG class of immunoglobulins with specificity for short ragweed and Bermuda grass in the sera of nonatopic subjects and patients with inhalant allergy (at the time of initial diagnosis, following specific immunotherapy was investigated with an enzyme immunoassay. The intra-assay and inter-assay coefficients of variation for this assay ranged from 1.74%-4.62% and 3.18%-9.12%, respectively. IgG antibodies were found in the sera of the majority of nonatopic and all of atopic subjects. The differences in the concentration of these antibodies between these three groups were statistically significant (P less than 0.001). Specific immunotherapy resulted in a rise in the serum levels of allergen-specific IgG antibodies and, following an initial period of modest increase, a decrease in the level of allergen-specific IgE antibodies. Specific IgG response correlated with both the cumulative antigen dose and the clinical benefit that accrued from specific immunotherapy (P less than 0.001). The increase in the serum concentration of specific IgG was most pronounced in patients with high RAST scores at the time of initial diagnosis (P less than 0.001). The concentrations of short-ragweed specific IgG antibodies assayed with multiple samples in three patients with ragweed hay fever appeared not to be affected by the short-ragweed season to any significant degree. We conclude that direct enzyme immunoassay for allergen-specific IgE and IgG antibodies are useful in vitro monitors of immunologic responses to specific immunotherapy for inhalant allergy.

Allergens↗
PubMed1981

Measurement of plasma histamine in patients with suspected food hypersensitivity.

Plasma histamine determinations were performed on 15 subjects with suspected food hypersensitivity following subcutaneous food provocation with milk, egg or wheat antigens. Significant rises in plasma histamine were observed in four of the 15 subjects tested; in these four subjects positive responses were seen with a total of five food test challenges. No changes were observed in total blood counts, differential eosinophil counts in six subjects and no correlation was observed with allergen-specific IgE responses. The results of these preliminary studies lend further support to the heterogeneity of causes of food allergy and suggest that the measurement of plasma histamine may provide an additional predictive marker for the diagnosis of food allergy. This technique permits the measurement of the ultimate mediator system(s) suspected to play a pathogenetic role in many food hypersensitivities.

Adolescent↗