PMID- 15971467
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20050811
LR  - 20161020
IS  - 1088-5412 (Print)
IS  - 1088-5412 (Linking)
VI  - 26
IP  - 2
DP  - 2005 Mar-Apr
TI  - Ragweed skin test responsiveness correlates with specific immunoglobulin E 
      levels.
PG  - 103-7
AB  - Evaluation for allergic rhinitis requires an objective measure of atopy. Serum 
      eosinophils, total and specific immunoglobulin E (IgE), and skin testing have 
      been used as this measure. The objective of our study was to examine the 
      relationship between in vitro allergy tests and in vivo responsiveness. We 
      compared eosinophil counts, total IgE, and the specific IgE radioallergosorbent 
      test (RAST) measurements to end point skin test titrations with ragweed. Forty 
      subjects > or = 18 years of age with at least a 2-year history of moderate to 
      severe ragweed-allergic rhinitis and a positive skin-prick test to ragweed 
      participated in this study with 33 subjects having data for all measurements. End 
      point skin tests were performed by intradermal injection of 0.03 mL of threefold 
      dilutions of standardized short ragweed extract into the forearm. 
      Ragweed-specific IgE was significantly correlated to end point wheal and erythema 
      concentrations. The results were similar whether the endpoint wheal (r = -0.714; 
      p < 0.001) or erythema (r = 0.862; p < 0.001) concentration was used, and the 
      correlation between these two values was significant (r = 0.97; p < 0.001). 
      However, 8 of 33 subjects had a negative specific IgE RAST value for ragweed. 
      There was a significant relationship between ragweed-specific IgE and total IgE 
      (r = 0.72; p < 0.01). No significant correlations were found between blood 
      eosinophils and either total IgE, ragweed-specific IgE, and end point wheal or 
      erythema concentrations. Skin test responsiveness to ragweed correlated with in 
      vitro ragweed-specific IgE levels, but these tests are not equivalent indicators 
      of the degree of IgE-mediated sensitivity.
FAU - Stokes, Jeffrey
AU  - Stokes J
AD  - Division of Allergy/lmmunology, Department of Medicine, Creighton University, 601 
      North 30th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68131, USA.
FAU - Kessler, Richard
AU  - Kessler R
FAU - Philip, George
AU  - Philip G
FAU - Casale, Thomas B
AU  - Casale TB
LA  - eng
PT  - Comparative Study
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - Allergy Asthma Proc
JT  - Allergy and asthma proceedings
JID - 9603640
RN  - 37341-29-0 (Immunoglobulin E)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Ambrosia/*immunology
MH  - Eosinophils/pathology
MH  - Humans
MH  - Immunoglobulin E/*metabolism
MH  - Leukocyte Count
MH  - Radioallergosorbent Test
MH  - Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal/*blood/*diagnosis
MH  - *Skin Tests
MH  - Urticaria/immunology
EDAT- 2005/06/24 09:00
MHDA- 2005/08/12 09:00
CRDT- 2005/06/24 09:00
PHST- 2005/06/24 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2005/08/12 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2005/06/24 09:00 [entrez]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Allergy Asthma Proc. 2005 Mar-Apr;26(2):103-7.