S116 Abstracts
JANUARY 2007
456
GERMANY.
Basophil Activation In Food Allergic Patients
M. Worm; Dept. of Dermatology and Allergy, Berlin,
RATIONALE: In recent studies the determination of the basophil activa-
tion marker CD203c was found to be a novel diagnostic tool. In this study
we investigated in vivo basophil activation after oral provocation in food
allergic patients and determined the allergenicity of different processed
food allergen extracts by in vitro analysis.
METHODS: Samples were collected before and after the provocation for
the determination of in vivo basophil activation. In vitro measurements
were performed with patients’ blood samples. Cells were stimulated
in vitro with different concentrations of food extracts. For determination
of basophil activation the CD203c expression was measured by flow cyto-
metric analysis and the data was analysed by ‘‘FACS Cell Quest’’
programme.
RESULTS: 59/73 studied patients had a low, but statistically significant
increase of in vivo CD203c expression after the oral provocation (21%
(6 3.2) to 26% (6 3.2); p<0.001). The in vitro analysis showed that a ba-
SUNDAY
sophil activation of 50% was reached at significant lower concentrations by
native compared to processed food extract.
CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggests that CD203c expression may be used
as an in vivo predictive marker for clinical relevant food allergy and is also
useful for the determination of allergenicity in vitro.
Funding: BMBF
457 Association Between Milk Allergy, Steroid Use, And Rate Of
Hospitalizations In Children With Asthma
A. B. Sympson1,2, E. Yousef1,2; 1DuPonts Children’s Hospital, Wilming-
ton, DE, 2Thomas Jefferson Uiniversity, Philadlephia, PA.
RATIONALE: Asthma continues to be the leading cause of morbidity and
mortality in the pediatric population. Studies have looked at the association
between food sensitization on asthma severity. We studied the effect milk
allergy has on the number of hospitalizations and steroid use in asthmatic
children followed by an outpatient allergy practice.
METHODS: Medical records of 197 children with diagnosis of asthma
(ICD -9 codes 493.90, 493.91, and 493.92), aged 3 months to 14 years
were reviewed. Of the 87 children with food allergy, 35 had allergy to
milk (Group A). This group was compared with a 110 patients without
any food allergy (Group B), for rate of hospitalizations and use of systemic
steroids. Study subjects were adjusted for the severity of asthma at presen-
tation, presence of environmental allergy, atopic dermatitis, tobacco smoke
exposure, and GERD.
RESULTS: Children with milk allergy had higher rate of hospitalizations
(p50.016) and increased use of systemic steroids (p50.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Milk allergy was associated with increased hospitaliza-
tion rates and steroid use among children with asthma. Early identification
of food allergy in high risk patients and avoidance of offending food may
be advisable for a better long term prognosis.
J ALLERGY CLIN IMMUNOL
458 Epicutaneous Testing Using Peanut Extracts Prepared by a
Variety of Cooking Methods
M. Peng1, G. Hubbard1, J. A. Nordlee2, S. L. Hefle2, M. B. Levy1; 1Med-
ical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, 2University of Nebraska, Food
Allergy Research and Resource Program, Lincoln, NE.
RATIONALE: The incidence of peanut allergy is higher in the United
States than in other countries, such as China, despite equal consumption.
This is theorized to occur, in part, because of differences in the way peanuts
are prepared: roasted versus boiled and/or fried. Since cooking peanuts has
been shown to change IgE binding in-vitro, we examined epicutaneous
testing responses to peanuts prepared by a variety of cooking methods.
METHODS: Extracts of dry roasted, boiled 20 minutes and one hour, oil
roasted, fried, and raw peanuts were prepared. Each extract contained an
equal amount of protein. Thirty peanut allergic patients were skin prick
tested with each peanut extract using a Multi-testÒ apparatus. Wheal
size was measured and compared using two-tailed T test.
RESULTS: Skin test reactions to oil roasted (p50.01), boiled one hour and
20 minutes (p50.03, p50.003), and dry roasted (p50.001) peanuts were
significantly less than those to raw peanuts. Other comparisons were not
significantly different.
CONCLUSION: We observed that peanut extracts prepared by a variety
of cooking methods decreased skin test reactivity as compared to raw pea-
nut extract. This suggests that the preparation of peanuts by various cook-
ing methods may not contribute to the higher incidence of peanut allergy in
the United States.
459 Sunflower Seed Food Allergy as a Co-allergy With Peanut
S. S. Comstock, C. Kath, S. S. Teuber; Univ CA-Davis School
Medicine, Davis, CA.
RATIONALE: Sunflower seed allergens are not well-described. Because
sunflower seed butter may be consumed as an alternative to peanut butter
by peanut-allergic individuals or those trying to avoid sensitization to pea-
nut, issues of co-allergy are important.
METHOD: Volunteers with self-reported severe nut and/or seed allergies
were recruited. Subjects were interviewed and asked if they had ever eaten
the following foods and if they had any symptoms upon ingestion: different
tree nuts, peanut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin, or sesame seeds. Sera donated
by some subjects were used in IgE immunoblots against raw sunflower
seed extract and sunflower butter extract.
RESULTS: In our population of seed or nut-allergic individuals, co-
allergy to peanut and sunflower seed was reported by 20 of 210 patients
with peanut allergy (9.5%). Sera from patients with sunflower and peanut
allergy showed IgE binding to multiple sunflower polypeptide bands in
both the seed and butter extracts. The roasted sunflower butter extract con-
tained more high molecular weight polypeptides in a Coomassie-stained
gel. Much, but not all, of the IgE reactivity was absorbed out by preincu-
bation of sera with perennial ryegrass pollen extract. 31 patients with pea-
nut allergy, but no known sunflower seed allergy were also screened (some
of whom had never eaten sunflower seeds), and 9 showed IgE binding to
sunflower proteins.
CONCLUSIONS: Some patients with peanut allergy are clinically aller-
gic to both peanut and sunflower by self-report. Also, a percentage of pa-
tients with peanut allergy have sunflower seed-reactive IgE that may not be
clinically relevant.
Funding: University of California, Davis