Clinical trial to assess tolerability and subrogate efficacy effects of an abbreviated schedule with house dust mites mixture subcutaneous immunotherapy.

Summary: Objective. To evaluate the tolerability and efficacy of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus/Dermatophagoides farinae mixture subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT). Methods. Patients received an abbreviated build-up schedule. The aims were: number, percentage, and severity of adverse reactions. Secondary outcomes included: changes in immunoglobulin titers and changes in dose-response skin prick tests. Results. Out of 289 administrations, 17% elicited any clinically relevant adverse reaction. Most of them were local reactions (LR) (9.4%) and the rest (7.6%) were systemic. Significant increases in sIgG and sIgG4 were detected in serum samples. Cutaneous reactivity decreased significantly. Conclusions. SCIT with house dust mites mixture of ROXALL Medicina España S.A. seems to have an acceptable tolerability profile, induces blocking IgG and decreases skin reactivity.

Food allergy in Catalonia: Clinical manifestations and its association with airborne allergens.

BACKGROUND: Food allergy affects around 6% of the European population and its prevalence worldwide has been increasing in the last decades, but studies focused on investigating food allergy epidemiology in Europe are lacking. OBJECTIVE: The Cibus project was created to register the main culprit foods and their clinical manifestations in food allergic patients in Catalonia. METHODS: A specific online database was designed. Allergists from eight different Catalan hospitals registered the new diagnoses of food allergy. RESULTS: 618 food allergic patients were included. Egg and milk were the main elicitors in the early ages, while fruits and nuts were the most frequent in patients >14 years old. Fish was more frequent in children, while seafood and Anisakis allergy were more frequent in the >14-year-old group. Overall, peach was the most prevalent food eliciting an allergic reaction (10%). Food allergy diagnosis was reached using compatible clinical history and positive skin prick test to the involved food in 98% of cases. Globally, urticaria was the most frequently reported manifestation in our population (48.2%), followed by oral allergy syndrome (25.6%) and anaphylaxis (24.8%). CONCLUSIONS: The Cibus project gives a full overview of the profile of food allergic patients in Catalonia and reinforces the predominance of plant food allergies in the Mediterranean area.

Latex allergy: Position Paper.

Correct management of latex allergy is essential to ensure adequate care of patients who are allergic to latex, which is ubiquitous in the health care setting. In this Position Paper, the Latex Committee of the Spanish Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology provides guidelines for the management of latex allergy.

Transgenic rabbits as bioreactors for the production of human growth hormone.

Gene farming is one of the most promising areas in modern biotechnology. To assay the potential usefulness of transgenic rabbits as bioreactors, one call embryos were microinjected with a chimeric gene comprising 5' sequences from mouse whey acidic protein gene (mWAP) linked to the human growth hormone (hGH) gene. Transgenic animals were obtained and the presence of the foreign protein was detected in the milk and serum of these animals at levels of up to 50 micrograms ml-1 and 0.6 ng ml-1, respectively. Founder transgenics were able to transmit the microinjected gene to the first filial generation in a Mendelian fashion. These results showed that transgenic rabbits could constitute a suitable system for the rapid production of recombinant proteins in the milk of lactating females.

Epidemiology of urticaria in Spain.

BACKGROUND: In spite of the frequency of chronic urticaria there are very few epidemiological studies of its prevalence and distribution. OBJECTIVE: We wanted to approach the real prevalence of chronic urticaria in a population-based study and to depict demographic distribution and personal perception of the disease. We also wanted to describe the frequency of acute urticaria episodes in the population studied. METHODS: We conducted a population-based study among adults in Spain. We questioned 5003 individuals after calculating a sample size for a maximum variability (conservative approach p=q=0.5). RESULTS: We found a 0.6% (95% CI: 0.4-0.8) prevalence of chronic urticaria. The prevalence is significantly higher in women than in men with a OR=3.82 (95%CI 1.56-9.37). Chronic urticaria is a self-limited disease, yet in 8.7% of cases chronic urticaria lasts from one to 5 years and in 11.3%, for more than 5 years. The average age of onset is 40 years. CONCLUSIONS: We offer large epidemiology study data on the prevalence of chronic urticaria. The prevalence of chronic urticaria has not yet been defined in an adult population-based study. With this work we offer such data to describe the prevalence and features of this disease.

Simulation of control strategies for the cattle tick Boophilus microplus employing vaccination with a recombinant Bm86 antigen preparation.

Current strategies for the control of the cattle tick Boophilus microplus include the use of chemicals as the principal control method. These methods, however, have met with partially successful results. The recent development of immunological methods for the control of the cattle tick has opened new possibilities for the design of control strategies. Employing the results obtained by us in experiments testing the effect of vaccination with the recombinant vaccine, Gavac (Heber Biotec S.A.), on tick populations, we have developed a model to evaluate, through a computer program, the efficacy of the vaccine as a control method. The action of the vaccine on the control of tick populations was simulated and the specific serum antibody titers required to decrease the tick population in the field were calculated. The specific serum antibody titer required to decrease the tick population in the field after the first vaccination scheme was found to be > or = 57,200 and the antibody titer required to maintain this effect when the vaccine is already acting and after successive revaccinations was found to be > or = 27,500. Considerations about revaccination schemes and combination between vaccination and acaricide treatments as possible control strategies are discussed.

A novel, quantitative bioassay for type I interferon using a recombinant indicator cell line.

We describe a specific and quantitative novel assay for biologically active human type I interferon (IFN), the MxR assay. It is based on a Vero cell line containing multiple copies of a hybrid gene consisting of the murine Mx promoter, which is responsive to type I IFN, linked to the human growth hormone (hGH) transcription unit. Exposure of this cell line to IFN-alpha or -beta for 12-48 hours results in the production of hGH that is measured by a commercially available radio-immune assay. The response to IFN-alpha is dose-dependent between 3 and 1000 units/ml. There is no response to TNF, IL-1 and a number of other cytokines and growth factors, and only a negligible response to IFN-gamma.

[Subcutaneous nodules and sensitivity to aluminum in patients undergoing hyposensitivity immunotherapy]. / Nódulos subcutáneos y sensibilidad al aluminio en pacientes con inmunoterapia hiposensibilizante.

Hypersensitivity reactions to aluminium are very rate. Sensitization has been reported to occur during continuous application of aluminium-containing antiperspirants or by aluminium adjuvants in vaccines and hyposensitization immunotherapy. We report 5 patients who developed persistent and itching subcutaneous nodules following immunotherapy. Histologically, the nodules showed a granulomatous reaction consistent with delayed hypersensitivity to aluminium. Patch tests with 2% aluminium chloride in water were positive in three patients, and positive results of patch test with other metals (nickel, cobalt) were frequently associated.

Molecular and antigenic characterization of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus isolated in Cuba indicates a distinct antigenic subtype.

Phylogenetic analyses conducted on isolates of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) from throughout the world have shown well-defined genogroups comprising representative strains of the virus and antigenic variants. In this work, we have isolated and characterized RHDV from the major epizootic that occurred in Cuba in 2004-2005. Sequence analysis of the capsid protein gene and antigenic characterization of this strain has allowed its inclusion as a member of the distinct RHDVa subtype. We also found that specific antibodies directed against RHDV reference strains bound to the Cuban isolate in a competition ELISA and inhibited virus hemagglutination in vitro. This is the second report on the molecular characterization of RHDVa circulating in the American region.

Atopic dermatitis today.

This review focuses on recent literature regarding atopic dermatitis (AD). New insights in epidemiology, diagnostic criteria, quality of life measures, provocative factors, patophysiology and therapy will be highlighted. New diagnostic criteria for AD set by the UK working party allow easier epidemiologic studies to cope with this increasingly prevalent disease. Immunomodulating therapy with cyclosporine holds promise in the treatment of refractory AD.

Dietary micronutrients/antioxidants and their relationship with bronchial asthma severity.

BACKGROUND: Because little is known about micronutrient/antioxidant intake and asthma severity, we investigated dietary intake and plasma/serum levels of micronutrients/antioxidants in a group of asthma patients with various degrees of severity, and compared the results with healthy subjects. METHODS: A case control study was carried out on 118 asthma patients and 121 healthy subjects. The severity of the disease was classified by division of patients into four groups. Normal dietary micronutrient/antioxidant intake was estimated from a food frequency questionnaire. Plasma/serum levels of vitamins C, E, and A, selenium, magnesium, zinc, and platelet glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity were also determined. RESULTS: No differences in daily micronutrient/antioxidant intake were seen between patients and healthy subjects. The severity of the disease showed no significant relationship with micronutrient/antioxidant intake. There were no differences in plasma/serum levels in any of the micronutrients/antioxidants between healthy subjects and asthmatics. Nor were any differences found between asthma groups in severity in the biochemical measures, except in platelet GSH-Px activity, which was significantly lower in the most severe groups. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we found no evidence of any association between micronutrient/antioxidant intake or plasma/serum levels of micronutrients/antioxidants and asthma. Reduction of platelet GSH-Px activity in the most severe patients suggests that these patients have a diminished capacity to restore part of the antioxidant defences.

[Hypersensitivity reactions to ethylenediamine]. / Reacciones de hipersensibilidad a la etilendiamina.

Most allergic reactions to aminophylline are caused by hypersensitivity to ethylendiamine. We present 3 asthmatic patients, 2 of whom had immediate allergic symptoms after the administration of aminophylline. The third patient presented generalized erythrodermia 24 hours after receiving aminophylline. In all three cases sensitivity to ethylendiamine was observed in skin testing. These patients can tolerate other theophylline preparations not containing ethylendiamine.

Food allergy: identification of the major IgE-binding component of peach (Prunus persica).

Since peaches are a relatively common cause of food allergy, we set out to identify the allergens involved. With the use of a panel of 48 sera from patients allergic to peach, we demonstrate that most of the allergenicity of that fruit is confined to the skin, rather than to the flesh of peaches, and corresponds to a protein doublet with an estimated molecular weight of 8-10 kD.