(e.g. the extent of indoor/outdoor living, pets and eating habits). The number of underlying variables is constantly growing, and this hampers comparisons between epidemiological studies on different regions. Even more important, employing diagnostic extracts as tools for detecting allergic sensitizations (by skin prick test or serum IgE) carries inherent problems and can create misleading resu...

allergic rhinitis and asthma share common  epidemiological features and inflammatory processes. the aim of the present study was to document the influence of natural allergen exposure in exhaled no  (eno)  and in spirometric parameters of patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis(sar) and to investigate the differences among subjects with positive versus negative bronchial provocation to metacho...

This article summarizes the most important advances of recent years in the fi eld of gene−environment interaction in allergic response. It specifi cally examines sensitization to olive pollen as an example of one of the main causes of allergic disease in the Mediterranean area. The presence of at least 20 proteins with allergic activity has been demonstrated in olive pollen, and 10 of these hav...

BACKGROUND A recent study carried out in North of Milan, an area that was recently colonized both by birch and ragweed pollen, showed that subjects developing allergies to these "new" allergens were much older than those becoming allergic to "traditional" airborne allergens, which suggests that predisposition to develop respiratory allergies is probably allergen-specific, persists throughout li...

BACKGROUND Polysensitisation is common in patients with respiratory allergy in Spain. Selection of the best allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is difficult in polysensitised patients. The present study was designed to help allergists better identify relevant allergens in these patients and to improve the selection of AIT in Spain. METHODS Sixty-two Spanish allergists answered a survey containing 88...

BACKGROUND Allergen-specific immunotherapy represents the only disease-modifying treatment for allergic diseases. We and others have previously demonstrated that intralymphatic immunotherapy (ILIT), a less time-consuming alternative to conventional subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT), is safe and effective. However, this has recently been disputed. The aim of this study was therefore to expand ou...

BACKGROUND Staphylococcus aureus may modify airway disease by inducing local formation of polyclonal IgE antibodies (abs), the role of which is unknown. METHODS Nasal mucosal tissue and serum was obtained from 12 allergic rhinitis (AR) and 14 nasal polyp (NP) subjects. Skin prick tests were performed, and total and specific IgE abs to inhalant allergens and enterotoxin B were determined in se...

BACKGROUND Pollutants may affect pollen allergenicity and thus the prevalence of allergies. Although a few studies are available in literature, the connection between pollution and the allergenic potential of pollen has yet to be clearly defined. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of traffic-related pollution on the allergenicity of ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) polle...

Pollen from mesquite (Prosopis juliflora) is one of the important causes of immediate hypersensitivity reactions in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. The aim of present study is to produce and purify the recombinant form of allergenic Ole e 1-like protein from the pollen of this allergenic tree. Immunological and cross-inhibition assays were performed for the evaluation of IgE-bindin...

SCOPE English walnut (Juglans regia) belongs to the most important allergenic tree nuts. Co-sensitization with birch (Betula verrucosa) pollen has been reported. We aimed to identify a walnut allergen homologous to the major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1. METHODS AND RESULTS A cDNA encoding a Bet v 1-homologous allergen (Jug r 5) in walnut kernels was cloned by RT-PCR. Jug r 5 was expressed i...