Priming of eosinophil adhesion in patients with birch pollen allergy during pollen season: Effect of immunotherapy☆,☆☆,★,★★
Section snippets
Patients
Twenty-four patients allergic to birch pollen participated in the study. There were 11 men and 13 women with a mean age of 31 years (range 21 to 42 years). They all had a history of rhinoconjunctivitis during birch pollen season, and 11 of 24 also had a history of asthma during birch pollen season. The diagnosis of allergy was based on positive results on a skin prick test of >3 mm with birch pollen extract (Betula verrucosa, ALK, Hörsholm, Denmark) and RAST. Some patients were sensitized to
Lung function and blood cell counts
Lung function estimated as FEV1 and PEF values and the bronchial reactivity in the patients measured as PC20 of methacholine before and during season are demonstrated in Table I.
Group FEV1 (%) PEF (%) PC20 methacholine (mg/ml) Control subjects (n = 12) Preseason 105 (78-122) 102 (80-132) >16 (0.05->16) Season 94 (69-107)* 99 (66-120)* 0.74 (0.12->16)* IT patients (n = 12) Preseason 97 (80-122) 108 (94-132) 10.7 (0.09->16)
Discussion
The present investigation of eosinophil adhesion in patients allergic to birch pollen was done during the pollen season of 1993, which was a season with extremely high birch pollen counts preceded by high alder pollen counts. The peak mean birch pollen count was about 6000 per cubic meter, whereas the peak count of a “normal” high season in the same area is about 2000 per cubic meter.8, 30 This strong allergen challenge resulted in a significant increase of the bronchial reactivity to
Acknowledgements
The skillful technical assistance of Ms. Annika Svanström and Ms. Agneta Breitholtz is greatly appreciated. We are grateful to Drs. E. Björnsson and C. Janson of the Department of Lung Medicine for allowing us to use some of the reference subjects from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey material.
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Cited by (0)
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From the Department of Clinical Chemistrya and the Asthma Research Center,b University Hospital, Uppsala; Department of Otolaryngology,c Central Hospital, Västerås; and Department of Lung Medicine,d Sahlgrenska Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.
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Supported by grants from the Medical Faculty of the University of Uppsala, Bror Herpstedts Stiftelse, the National Association against Asthma and Allergy, and the Swedish Medical Research Council.
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Reprint requests: Lena Håkansson, PhD, Laboratory for Inflammation Research, Department of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital, S-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
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