Allergen‐specific IgE and IgG antibodies in pollen‐allergic children given immunotherapy for 2‐6 years

Abstract

Summary Ninety‐five children with pollen hay fever were treated for 46 months (16‐74 months) with extracts of birch pollen (seventy‐two children) and/or grass pollen (fifty‐nine children). During the first 2 months of this immunotherapy the serum concentration of allergen‐specific IgE antibodies doubled or tripled, but the concentration of IgG‘blocking’antibodies increased even more. With time the IgE antibody activity decreased in 80% of the children, but only in slightly more than 50% did it fall to below the initial level, and the mean concentration at the end of the study was 2‐3 times the initial value. The IgG antibody activity remained high in about 50% of the children and showed a tendency to decrease in the other children, in spite of monthly allergen injections. Eighty‐three out of the ninety‐five children reported a moderate to marked improvement. At the end of the study the eighteen almost symptom‐free children had a higher IgG/IgE antibody ratio than the twelve children who had not improved, but this difference was not significant. After treatment, thirteen children tolerated ten to 10,000 times more allergen than before by naso‐conjunctival challenge tests. Ten of the children reacted to the same allergen dilution as before and two reacted to a ten times weaker extract. Clinical improvement was accompanied by increased tolerance in most patients.

Immunologische Verlaufsparameter unter spezifischer Immuntherapie

“…B. bei Patienten mit Rhinitis allergica, extrinsischem Asthma bronchiale oder insektengiftallergischen Reaktionen mittels Fluoreszenzimmunoassays in Serumproben nachgewiesen und gemäß WHO-Standard quantifiziert [8]. Zu Beginn der spezifischen Immuntherapie stellt sich in Analogie zur Situationen einer gesteigerten natür-lichen Allergenexposition zunächst eine vorübergehende Erhöhung des allergenspezifischen IgE (sIgE) ein, während sich im Verlauf der SIT in der Regel ein erneutes Absinken der sIgE-Spiegel beobachten lässt [9]. Zusätzlich konnte mithilfe placebokontrollierter Studien gezeigt werden, dass pollenallergische Patienten unter SIT einen signifikant niedrigeren saisonalen Anstieg des allergenspezifischen IgE aufwiesen als nicht behandelte Patienten [10,11].…”

Placebo-Controlled Immunotherapy with <i>Cocos nucifera</i> Pollen Extract

“…Well-controlled studies have convincing ly demonstrated the beneficial effects of IT for the treat ment of allergic rhinitis and asthma [2][3][4][5][6]; however, only a partial decrease in symptoms rather than 'cure' has been found. Immunological events that occur during IT include a rise in specific 'blocking' IgG antibodies, fall in specific IgE antibodies below pretreatm ent levels and finally, the induction of suppressor T cells.…”

Clinical Studies of a Purified Timothy Pollen Extract: Desensitization Therapy with a Purified Timothy Pollen Preparation Compared to a Crude Timothy Pollen Extract

“…Some authors have described a suppression of the seasonal booster rise of the specific IgE anti bodies in pollen allergies [11,19,20,26] as a result of DT but others have not been able to confirm these findings [9,17,31]. Similarly, contradictory results have been reported regarding the reduction of the spe cific IgE antibody concentrations during the course of DT [5,8,17,18,22,28], Allergen-specific antibodies of the IgG type, some times called 'blocking antibodies', constantly appear during DT [25]. There seems to be a rough correlation between their appearance and rise and the clinical benefit of the treatment [9,25].…”