Relationship between Skin Bacterial Colonization and the Occurrence of Allergen-specific and Non-Allergen-specific Antibodies in Sera of Children with Atopic Eczema/Dermatitis Syndrome

Abstract

In this study we investigated skin bacterial colonization, allergen-specific IgE and antiphospholipid/antinuclear antibodies in 72 children with atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome (age 2-17 years). Bacteria were found on the skin in 41 cases and serological allergen-specific IgE positivity in 37. The different forms of antibodies appeared in the ratio 21/72 (33 antibodies in 21 children). The occurrence of antiphospholipid antibodies was significantly higher in the patients than in the controls. There were significantly more allergens in the group with bacterial colonization than in the group without colonization. The SCORAD index showed a significant positive association with the skin colonization. We conclude that there are significant relationships between the occurrence of Staphylococcus aureus colonization and the levels of inhalant allergen-specific IgE in children with atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome, and between the occurrence of antiphospholipid IgM positivity and atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome.

Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Atopic Patients Revealing Presence of Similar Strains in Isolates from Children and Their Parents

“…In Bonn, only 66% of the patients were found to be colonized with S. aureus; however, this result corresponds to other studies performed in the last years that detected between 57% and 64.2% of colonized patients (16,33,39). It has been shown that colonization with S. aureus depends on the Th2 response and that even anti-inflammatory treatment will reduce skin colonization (13), indicating that colo- nization is dependent on the severity of the disease and that pretreatment with steroids or antibiotics will inhibit the growth of S. aureus.…”

Antinuclear antibodies in atopic dermatitis: a cross‐sectional study on 346 children

“…11,14,15,19 In contrast to our results, Higashi et al reported that 19% of patients with AD had ANA at titers ranging from 1:40 to 1:640, with a remarkable difference between patients with AD and controls. ANA positivity in patients with AD has varied widely in earlier reports, mainly owing to differences in the age of studied individuals.…”

Anticardiolipin antibodies in children with atopic dermatitis

“…So the persistent and exaggerated immune response on the gastrointestinal mucosa and related lymphoproliferative system due to untreated food allergy could be the central pathogenic mechanism for this co-occurrence. In this study, however, they found that non-atopic hypersensitivity predisposes for the outcome of chronic immunomediated disorders such as Szakos et al considered that appearance of antibodies towards APL and ANA seemed to be independent of atopic diathesis, and more related to the intrinsic type of AD [8].…”

“…They supposed that the appearance of these antiphospholipid antibodies could be related to various inhalant allergens and thus mite-proteins could be responsible for inducing specific anti-mite IgE and mite-lipids for provoking antibodies of antiphospholipid-type antibodies. According to these authors the skin damage, which may be significant in the pathogenesis of AD [2,3], plays an important role because of the possibly skin-mediated polysensitization by various allergens normally unpenetrable for the organism, so the presence of pyogenic bacteria on the skin of patients with AD could contribute not only to the severity of disease, but also to the polysensitization towards some inhalant allergens [8]. In the association of the increased ACL IgM and mite or other inhalant allergen-specific IgE production [13e15], they considered the importance of the possibly skin-mediated uptake of allergens [16] whose lipid components can be the triggers for the production of antibodies of antiphospholipid-type.…”

“…They supposed the possibly skin-mediated uptake of allergens to induce allergen specific IgE and suggested that some lipid components of these allergens provoke antibodies of the antiphospholipid (APL) type. In a more recent study Szakos et al confirm the relationship between the occurrence of APL IgM positivity and AD [8]. On the other hand, Kokkonen et al [10] suggest that the subjects with infantile onset of AD and with food allergy might be at risk of manifesting autoimmune disorders because of the persistent and exaggerated immune response on the gastrointestinal mucosa and related lymphoproliferative system.…”