| 1. |
- Aalberse, Rob C, et al.
(författare)
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Further investigations of the IgE response to tetanus and diphtheria following covaccination with acellular rather than cellular Bordetella pertussis
- 2019
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Ingår i: Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0905-6157 .- 1399-3038. ; 30:8, s. 841-847
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundIt has previously been shown in an uncontrolled study that the IgE response to vaccine antigens is downregulated by co‐vaccination with cellular Bordetella pertussis vaccine.MethodsIn the present study, we compared in a controlled trial the humoral immune response to diphtheria toxoid (D) and tetanus toxoid (T) in relation to co‐vaccinated cellular or acellular B pertussis vaccine. IgE, IgG4, and IgG to D and T were analyzed at 2, 7, and 12 months of age in sera of children vaccinated with D and T (DT, N = 68), cellular (DTPw, N = 68), 2‐ or 5‐component acellular B pertussis vaccine (DTPa2, N = 64; DTPa5, N = 65).ResultsOne month after vaccination, D‐IgE was detected in 10% sera of DTPw‐vaccinated children, whereas vaccination in the absence of whole‐cell pertussis resulted in 50%‐60% IgE positivity. Six months after vaccination, the IgE antibody levels were found to be more persistent than the IgG antibodies. These diphtheria findings were mirrored by those for tetanus. Only minor differences between vaccine groups were found with regard to D‐IgG and T‐IgG. No immediate‐type allergic reactions were observed.ConclusionCellular (but not acellular) B pertussis vaccine downregulates IgE to co‐vaccinated antigens in infants. We assume that the absence of immediate‐type allergic reactions is due to the high levels of IgG antibodies competing with IgE antibodies.
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| 2. |
- Calderon, Moises A, et al.
(författare)
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EAACI: A European Declaration on Immunotherapy. Designing the future of allergen specific immunotherapy.
- 2012
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Ingår i: Clinical and translational allergy. - : Wiley. - 2045-7022. ; 2:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Allergy today is a public health concern of pandemic proportions, affecting more than 150 million people in Europe alone. In view of epidemiological trends, the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) predicts that within the next few decades, more than half of the European population may at some point in their lives experience some type of allergy.Not only do allergic patients suffer from a debilitating disease, with the potential for major impact on their quality of life, career progression, personal development and lifestyle choices, but they also constitute a significant burden on health economics and macroeconomics due to the days of lost productivity and underperformance. Given that allergy triggers, including urbanization, industrialization, pollution and climate change, are not expected to change in the foreseeable future, it is imperative that steps are taken to develop, strengthen and optimize preventive and treatment strategies.Allergen specific immunotherapy is the only currently available medical intervention that has the potential to affect the natural course of the disease. Years of basic science research, clinical trials, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses have convincingly shown that allergen specific immunotherapy can achieve substantial results for patients, improving the allergic individuals' quality of life, reducing the long-term costs and burden of allergies, and changing the course of the disease. Allergen specific immunotherapy not only effectively alleviates allergy symptoms, but it has a long-term effect after conclusion of the treatment and can prevent the progression of allergic diseases.Unfortunately, allergen specific immunotherapy has not yet received adequate attention from European institutions, including research funding bodies, even though this could be a most rewarding field in terms of return on investments, translational value and European integration and, a field in which Europe is recognized as a worldwide leader. Evaluation and surveillance of the full cost of allergic diseases is still lacking and further progress is being stifled by the variety of health systems across Europe. This means that the general population remains unaware of the potential use of allergen specific immunotherapy and its potential benefits.We call upon Europe's policy-makers to coordinate actions and improve individual and public health in allergy by:Promoting awareness of the effectiveness of allergen specific immunotherapyUpdating national healthcare policies to support allergen specific immunotherapyPrioritising funding for allergen specific immunotherapy researchMonitoring the macroeconomic and health economic parameters of allergyReinforcing allergy teaching in medical disciplines and specialtiesThe effective implementation of the above policies has the potential for a major positive impact on European health and well-being in the next decade.
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| 3. |
- Ferdousi, Hosne Ara, et al.
(författare)
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Clinical characteristics of school children with birch and/or grass pollen hay-fever (The PAT-Study)
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: To describe the clinical characteristics of school children with hay-fever based on baseline data from the PAT-Study.Material: Two hundred and five children, 6-15 years, mean 10.7 years, with birch and or grass pollen hay-fever, without known asthma were recruited by six pediatric allergy centers in Northern and Central Europe.Methods: Bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) to methacholine tested by methacholine bronchial provocation test (MBPT) expressed in PC20 was registered during the birch and grass pollen seasons. During the winter symptoms of conjunctivitis, rhinitis and asthma were graded by visual analogue scale (VAS), conjunctival provocation test with birch and or timothy pollen extracts, skin tests with a panel of allergen extracts and MBPT were done and a questionnaire was filled in. Differences of p <0.01 level or less were considered significant.Results: Despite the children were included because of seasonal hay-fever without known asthma, 42/205 children (21 %) got doctor diagnosed asthma (DDA) after the first season. During the three seasons, between 60 and 73 % of the children had a PC20 to methacholine ≤ 8 mg/ml, about 30 % to ≤ 2 mg/ml and 7-10% even to ≤ 0.5 mg/ml. Most children had both rhinitis and conjunctivitis. Furthermore, 119/201 children (59%) were regularly exposed to furred animals.There was an association between DDA and the sum of VAS for asthma during the pollen seasons.The BHR was significantly more pronounced in those with than those without DDA during all three seasons: Using the three cut offs, the difference was most pronounced during the winter season but reached also significance using the cut off limit 0.5 mg/ml during the birch pollen season.Doctor diagnosed asthma correlated to PC20 during the seasons for most of the cut off limits for PC20 and in general there was an association in PC20 between the seasons independent of cut off limits.Furthermore, DDA, but not BHR, correlated to exposure to traffic and there was an association between exposure to traffic and industrial pollution, but not to ETS or duration of breastfeeding.Conclusion: The most striking feature of school children with uncomplicated hay-fever was the high frequency of DDA and BHR, most pronounced during the winter, the high frequency of exposure to living animals and sensitization to indoor allergens. Hay-fever is a generalized disease. Even without obvious asthma, BHR is common and most children have symptoms from both the eyes and the airways. Diagnosis of asthma in children with hay-fever and early anti-inflammatory treatment may improve the prognosis.
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| 4. |
- Möller, Christian, et al.
(författare)
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Pollen immunotherapy reduces the development of asthma in children with seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis (the PAT-study)
- 2002
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Ingår i: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0091-6749 .- 1097-6825. ; 109:2, s. 251-256
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Children with allergic rhinitis are likely to develop asthma.Objective: The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether specific immunotherapy can prevent the development of asthma and reduce bronchial hyperresponsiveness in children with seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis.Methods: From 6 pediatric allergy centers, 205 children aged 6 to 14 years (mean age, 10.7 years) with grass and/or birch pollen allergy but without any other clinically important allergy were randomized either to receive specific immunotherapy for 3 years or to an open control group. All subjects had moderate to severe hay fever symptoms, but at inclusion none reported asthma with need of daily treatment. Symptomatic treatment was limited to loratadine, levocabastine, sodium cromoglycate, and nasal budesonide. Asthma was evaluated clinically and by peak flow. Methacholine bronchial provocation tests were carried out during the season(s) and during the winter.Results: Before the start of immunotherapy, 20% of the children had mild asthma symptoms during the pollen season(s). Among those without asthma, the actively treated children had significantly fewer asthma symptoms after 3 years as evaluated by clinical diagnosis (odds ratio, 2.52; P < .05). Methacholine bronchial provocation test results improved significant in the active group (P < .05).Conclusion: Immunotherapy can reduce the development of asthma in children with seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis.
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| 5. |
- Papadopoulos, Nikolaos G, et al.
(författare)
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Research needs in allergy: an EAACI position paper, in collaboration with EFA.
- 2012
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Ingår i: Clinical and translational allergy. - : Wiley. - 2045-7022. ; 2:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ABSTRACT: In less than half a century, allergy, originally perceived as a rare disease, has become a major public health threat, today affecting the lives of more than 60 million people in Europe, and probably close to one billion worldwide, thereby heavily impacting the budgets of public health systems. More disturbingly, its prevalence and impact are on the rise, a development that has been associated with environmental and lifestyle changes accompanying the continuous process of urbanization and globalization. Therefore, there is an urgent need to prioritize and concert research efforts in the field of allergy, in order to achieve sustainable results on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of this most prevalent chronic disease of the 21st century.The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) is the leading professional organization in the field of allergy, promoting excellence in clinical care, education, training and basic and translational research, all with the ultimate goal of improving the health of allergic patients. The European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Associations (EFA) is a non-profit network of allergy, asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) patients' organizations. In support of their missions, the present EAACI Position Paper, in collaboration with EFA, highlights the most important research needs in the field of allergy to serve as key recommendations for future research funding at the national and European levels.Although allergies may involve almost every organ of the body and an array of diverse external factors act as triggers, there are several common themes that need to be prioritized in research efforts. As in many other chronic diseases, effective prevention, curative treatment and accurate, rapid diagnosis represent major unmet needs. Detailed phenotyping/endotyping stands out as widely required in order to arrange or re-categorize clinical syndromes into more coherent, uniform and treatment-responsive groups. Research efforts to unveil the basic pathophysiologic pathways and mechanisms, thus leading to the comprehension and resolution of the pathophysiologic complexity of allergies will allow for the design of novel patient-oriented diagnostic and treatment protocols. Several allergic diseases require well-controlled epidemiological description and surveillance, using disease registries, pharmacoeconomic evaluation, as well as large biobanks. Additionally, there is a need for extensive studies to bring promising new biotechnological innovations, such as biological agents, vaccines of modified allergen molecules and engineered components for allergy diagnosis, closer to clinical practice. Finally, particular attention should be paid to the difficult-to-manage, precarious and costly severe disease forms and/or exacerbations. Nonetheless, currently arising treatments, mainly in the fields of immunotherapy and biologicals, hold great promise for targeted and causal management of allergic conditions. Active involvement of all stakeholders, including Patient Organizations and policy makers are necessary to achieve the aims emphasized herein.
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