Showing papers by "Domingo Barber published in 2011"
TL;DR: This work was made possible in part by grant 1KL2R, R025006-01 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research.
Abstract: From the Divisions of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md; and the Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Md. E-mail: ckeet1@jhmi.edu. The study described was made possible in part by grant 1KL2R, R025006-01 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of NCRR or NIH. Information on NCRR is available at http://www.ncrr.nih. gov/. Information on Re-engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise can be obtained from http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/clinicalresearch/overview-translational.asp. This work was also supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (R01AI070630), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P50ES015903, P01 ES018176, K23ES016819) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (R82672401). Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: C. A. Keet and E. C. Matsui receive research support from the National Institutes of Health. The rest of the authors have declared that they have no conflict of interest.
52 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Sensitization to panallergens could be a confounding factor in the diagnosis of polysensitized pollen-allergic patients as a marker for food allergy, however, more studies are required to further investigate the role of these molecules.
Abstract: BACKGROUND Pollen is one of the main causes of allergic sensitization. It is not easy to make an etiological diagnosis of pollen-allergic patients because of the wide variety of sensitizing pollens, association with food allergy, and increasing incidence of polysensitization, which may result from the presence of allergens that are common to different species, as is the case of panallergens. OBJECTIVE To compare the results of skin prick tests (SPT) using whole pollen extract with specific immunoglobulin (Ig) E determination for several allergens (purified panallergens included) in the diagnosis of polysensitized pollen-allergic patients. METHODS The study sample comprised 179 pollen-sensitized patients who underwent SPT with pollen extract and allergen-specific IgE determination against different allergens. RESULTS The level of concordance between the traditional diagnostic test (SPT) and IgE determination was low, especially in patients sensitized to the panallergens profilin and polcalcin. In the case of SPT, the results demonstrated that patients who are sensitized to either of these panallergens present a significantly higher number of positive results than patients who are not. However, IgE determination revealed that while patients sensitized to polcalcins are sensitized to allergens from a higher number of pollens than the rest of the sample, this is not the case in patients sensitized to profilins. On the other hand, sensitization to profilin or lipid transfer proteins was clearly associated with food allergy. CONCLUSIONS Sensitization to panallergens could be a confounding factor in the diagnosis of polysensitized pollen-allergic patients as well as a marker for food allergy. However, more studies are required to further investigate the role of these molecules.
27 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: A strong and significant positive correlation was found between pollen counts and allergen-specific immunoglobulin E levels and this correlation was weaker in the case of SPT and airborne pollen, especially in 2007.
Abstract: ■ Abstract Background: Patients with pollinosis show allergic symptoms related to airborne pollen levels, although this association is not always close. The use of new diagnostic techniques could improve our knowledge of this relationship. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between pollen counts and the results obtained using 2 diagnostic techniques: the skin prick test and allergen-specifi c immunoglobulin E (sIgE) concentrations in serum. Methods: Sixty-eight pollen-allergic patients were diagnosed using a combination of the high-capacity screening approach ADVIA Centaur ® with a panel of 13 purifi ed allergens and a skin prick test (SPT) with conventional extracts. Pollen levels were obtained by means of a volumetric sampler. Results: The highest percentages of sensitization were detected for grass mixture allergens and major recombinant grass allergens (Phl p 1 and Phl p 5), followed by olive tree extracts and olive allergens (Ole e 1 and Ole e 9), in SPT and using recombinant allergens, respectively. The main pollen types registered in the atmosphere during 2006 and 2007 were Quercus, Poaceae, and Cupressaceae. A statistically signifi cant correlation was observed between total pollen levels and median values of sIgE, especially in 2007. Conclusion: A strong and signifi cant positive correlation was found between pollen counts and sIgE levels. This correlation was weaker in the case of SPT and airborne pollen.
8 citations