House Dust Mite-Specific Ige, Igg1, and Igg4 Antibodies in Patients with Perennial Rhinitis

Abstract

Serum samples were obtained from patients with house dust mite-sensitive nasal allergies before and 6 months after immunotherapy, and the level of immunoglobulin (Ig)E, IgG1, and IgG4 antibodies in those sera was determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The present data showed that the mite-specific IgG4 antibodies increased in patients who responded well to immunotherapy but not in those who responded poorly. It was suggested from the present study that IgG4 antibodies seem to act as "blocking antibodies" to reduce the allergic reaction in the target organ, and that an increase of allergen-specific IgG4 antibodies following immunotherapy can be of clinical benefit to patients suffering from mite-specific nasal allergy.

Ten‐Year Follow‐Up Study of Allergen‐Specific Immunoglobulin E and Immunoglobulin G4, Soluble Interleukin‐2 Receptor, Interleukin‐4, Soluble Intercellular Adhesion Molecule‐1 and Soluble Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule‐1 in Serum of Patients on Immunotherapy for Perennial Allergic Rhinitis

“…Our previous study also failed to show any early decrease in specific IgE levels even in patients who responded well to immunotherapy [26]. In the present study, the levels of specific IgE in the patients on immunotherapy showed a significant increase at 1 year, then decreased and recurred to the pretreatment levels at 2 years, and further decreased significantly after 3 years as the therapy proceeded, whereas the levels of specific IgE in the untreated patients did not fluctuate significantly for the same period.…”

“…Several lines of experimental evidence suggest that specific IgG4 could act in vitro as a blocking antibody to inhibit IgEmediated immunological reactions on the surface of mast cells [18,19], and immunotherapy can increase specific IgG4 in serum of patients on immunotherapy [4,5,26]. However, there is no general agreement among different investigators regarding the clinical role of specific IgG4 during immunotherapy.…”

“…However, there is no general agreement among different investigators regarding the clinical role of specific IgG4 during immunotherapy. Some authors claimed that an elevation of specific IgG4 contributed to the clinical efficacy of immunotherapy [4,5,26]. By contrast, others argued that specific IgG4 might not play a clinical role in immunotherapy but be simply a marker of antigen exposure following subcutaneous injections, because they could not confirm any causal relationship between the clinical effect and an increase in specific IgG4 in serum [6,7].…”

Increased Ciliary Beating Frequency of Nasal Mucosa following Immunotherapy for Allergy

“…On the other hand, ten patients (Nos. 3,5,7,8,11,14,15,16,18,20) of the immu notherapy group showed a significantly increased CBF after the treatment. However, immunothera py did not change the level of CBF in the remaining ten patients.…”

Nasal Allergen Sensitivity and Mucosal IgE Antibodies

“…However, since the correlation between them was denied at the 1 % level of significance, it does not seem reasonable to define the allergen sensitivity of the nasal mucosa by the mucosal IgE antibody level alone. The following may be quoted as addi tional factors influencing the nasal allergen sensitivity: the number of mast cells in the nasal mucosa [Watanabe et al, 1985], the sensitivity of mast cells [Okuda, 1977], the amount of released chemical mediators in cluding histamine [Ostuka and Okuda, 1981], the sensitivity of the nasal mucosa to chemical mediators [Okuda et al, 1978], the density of nerve endings in the nasal mucosa [Ohashi et al, 1986b], immunological de fense factors including blocking antibodies [Ohashi et al, 1986a], and nonspecific bio logical defense factors such as mucociliary activities [Ohashi et al, 1985a].…”