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Investigates the effect of a skin challenge carried out with either anti-immunoglobulin E or anti-immunoglobulin A in both healthy and atopic subjects. Leucocyte migration; Late phase cutaneous reactions; Mean percentages of eosinophils, neutrophils and monocytes; Existence of a dermal edema induced by complement activation and resistant to H1 blockade.

Immediate and late cutaneous reactions were induced in healthy and atopic subjects by anti-IgE challenge and a skin-window technique was used in order to verify if the pattern of cells observed at 24 hr was similar in both groups. The study was first performed under basal conditions, and in a second double-blind cross-over step, it was performed again during treatment with cetirizine 10 mg b.i.d. and terfenadine 60 mg b.i.d. Anti-IgE challenge was followed by a significant eosinophil accumulation in atopic subjects only. Cetirizine significantly inhibited this phenomenon while terfenadine showed a mild nonsignificant inhibitory effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared by basophil degranulation and histamine release the reactivity to protein A and anti-IgE of the basophils from 3 groups of patients: group I (blood donors), group II (rhinitis) and group III (atopic dermatitis). We demonstrated that histamine release and basophil degranulation gave tightly correlated results and that by both methods group III was significantly ( p<0.01) more sensitive to the effectors than the two other groups. Protein A and anti-IgE stimulation curves showed a rebound effect at low concentrations of effectors. This was, however, only significant ( p<0.01) for group III. Bacterial hypersensitivity may be IgE-mediated and may be related to the increased sensitivity to bacterial antigens and the severity of atopic dermatitis in patients infected by Staphylococcus aureus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, four house dust allergen preparations of different degree of purification were examined in various institutes by means of physicochemical analysis, IgE binding, C-assay and cutaneous tests. The philosophy of this approach was that, if a chosen technique has any validity at all in standardization, potency differences among various preparations should reveal themselves in an equal manner, independent of the investigator. House dust extracts were prepared and purified according to a standard schedule and subfractions were coded as published.

The article focuses on the analysis and standardization of allergen extracts intended for therapeutic use. Over the past decade, many papers and international meetings have been devoted to establishing methods and requirements for analysis and standardization of allergen extracts. In fact, manufacturers and control authorities are in demand to produce procedures enabling precise and viable quantitation of allergenic activity as well as analysis of extracts. Such an approach would allow physicians to prescribe uniformly labeled extracts of known quality and guarantee therapeutic procedures.