Shrimp sensitization in house dust mite algerian allergic patients: A single center experience.

Background: Cross-reactivity between shrimp and house dust mite (HDM) proteins has been widely documented. However, a significant geographical variability in sensitization patterns and cross-reactive allergens has been reported which may impact the diagnosis and management of shrimp allergy among HDM-shrimp co-sensitized patients. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of shrimp and tropomyosin sensitization among HDM-allergic patients in order to understand the local epidemiology to inform the development of targeted diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Methods: Four hundred forty-six (446) HDM-allergic patients and 126 atopic controls were screened for shrimp-specific IgE using the IMMULITE 2000 XPI® System. HDM-shrimp sensitized subjected were also tested for IgE tropomyosin (nPen m 1) and thoroughly interviewed about their shellfish consumption habits. Tropomyosin sensitized patients were subjected to further analysis including measurement of IgE specific to squid and crab. Results: The prevalence of shrimp sensitization in the HDM-allergic population was 20.4% vs 0% in the control group. Of them 63.7% were clinically allergic to shrimp, while 9 cases had no history of allergic reaction to this food and 24 patients reported not having consumed shrimp before. Besides, 72.5% of the HDM-shrimp sensitized subjects had tropomyosin-specific IgE with a positivity rate of 82.8% among shrimp-allergic patients. Among tropomyosin reactors, 95.5% were sensitized to crab and 89.5% to squid, none of them had previously ingested neither crab nor squid. Nevertheless, one-third of HDM-shrimp sensitized patients who never consumed shrimp before did not react to tropomyosin. Conclusions: Shrimp allergy seems to be strictly dependent on HDM sensitization, at least in this geographical area. Therefore, HDM allergic patients should be systematically screened for shrimp sensitization and asked about the consumption of shellfish. Tropomyosin is a major and clinically relevant shrimp allergen that accounts for shellfish-HDM cross-reactivity. However, other components could be involved.

T cell counts and IL-6 concentration in blood of North African COVID-19 patients are two independent prognostic factors for severe disease and death.

The immune system plays a crucial role in the response against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 with significant differences among patients. The study investigated the relationships between lymphocyte subsets, cytokines, and disease outcomes in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The measurements of peripheral blood lymphocytes subsets and cytokine levels were performed by flow cytometry for 57 COVID-19 patients. Patients were categorized into two groups according to the severity of the disease (nonsevere vs. severe). Total lymphocytes, T cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, B cells, and natural killer cells were decreased in COVID-19 patients and statistical differences were found among different severity of illness and survival states (P ˂ 0.01). The levels of IL-6 and IL-10 were significantly higher in severe and death groups and negatively correlated with lymphocyte subsets counts. The percentages of Th17 in the peripheral blood of patients were higher than those of healthy controls whereas the percentages of Th2 were lower. For the severe cases, the area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of IL-6 was the largest among all the immune parameters (0.964; 95% confidence interval: 0.927-1.000, P < 0.0001). In addition, the preoperative IL-6 concentration of 77.38 pg/ml was the optimal cutoff value (sensitivity: 84.6%, specificity: 100%). Using multivariate logistic regression analysis and ROC curves, IL-6 > 106.44 pg/ml and CD8+ T cell counts <150 cells/µl were found to be associated with mortality. Measuring the immune parameters and defining a risk threshold can segregate patients who develop a severe disease from those with a mild pathology. The identification of these parameters may help clinicians to predict the outcome of the patients with high risk of unfavorable progress of the disease.

Interleukin-6, procalcitonin and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio: Potential immune-inflammatory parameters to identify severe and fatal forms of COVID-19.

Accumulating evidence supports that the viral-induced hyper-inflammatory immune response plays a central role in COVID-19 pathogenesis. It might be involved in the progression to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), multi-organ failure leading to death. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of the immune-inflammatory biomarkers in COVID-19, then determine optimal thresholds for assessing severe and fatal forms of this disease.153 patients with confirmed COVID-19 were included in this study, and classified into non-severe and severe groups. Plasmatic levels of interleukin 6 (IL6), C-reactive protein (CRP), soluble-IL2 receptor (IL2Rα), procalcitonin (PCT) and ferritin were measured using chemiluminescence assay. Complete blood count was performed by Convergys 3X® hematology analyzer. Our results demonstrated that the peripheral blood levels of IL6, PCT, CRP, ferritin, IL2Rα, white blood cell count (WBC), neutrophil count (NEU), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (d-NLR) were significantly higher in severe forms of COVID-19. The ROC curve analysis showed that IL6 was the most accurate inflammatory biomarker. The calculated cutoff of IL6 (42 pg/ml) could correctly classify > 90% of patients regarding their risk of severity (area under ROC curve (AUROC) = 0.972) and the threshold value of 83 pg/ml was highly predictive of the progression to death (AUROC = 0.94, OR = 184) after a median of 3 days. Besides, IL-6 was positively correlated with other inflammatory markers and the kinetic analysis highlighted its value for monitoring COVID-19 patients. PCT and NLR had also a high prognostic relevance to assess severe forms of COVID-19 with corresponding AUROC of 0.856, 0.831 respectively. Furthermore the cut-off values of PCT (0.16 ng/ml) and NLR (7.4) allowed to predict mortality with high accuracy (se = 96.3%, sp = 70.5%,OR = 61.2)' (se = 75%, sp = 84%, OR = 14.6).The levels of these parameters were not influenced by corticosteroid treatment, which make them potential prognostic markers when patients are already undergoing steroid therapy.