1. Where there's smoke, there's fire: cannabis allergy through passive exposure
- Author
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Decuyper, Ine, Faber, Margaretha A., Sabato, Vito, Bridts, Christiaan, Hagendorens, Margo, Rihs, Hans-Peter, De Clerck, Luc S., and Ebo, Didier
- Subjects
Smoke ,Allergy ,biology ,business.industry ,Rhinitis allergic ,Basophil degranulation test ,Passive Exposure ,medicine.disease ,biology.organism_classification ,030207 dermatology & venereal diseases ,03 medical and health sciences ,Marijuana smoking ,0302 clinical medicine ,030228 respiratory system ,Environmental health ,medicine ,Immunology and Allergy ,Human medicine ,Cannabis ,business ,Plant immunology - Abstract
Marihuana allergy seems on the rise and has been attributed to a sensitization to Can s 3, a non-specific lipid protein (ns-LTP) from Cannabis sativa. Sensitization and elicitation of allergic symptoms seem to occur mainly through direct exposure. We report two patients in whom allergy could have resulted from passive exposure to cannabis. History was taken and skin prick tests with cannabis extracts rich in ns-LTP were performed. Total and specific IgE´s were quantified for industrial hemp and recombinant (r), or native (n) components: rCan s 3 (Cannabis sativa), rPru p 3 (Prunus persica), bromelain, rBet v 1 and rBet v 2 (Betula verrucosa), rPhl p 1 and rPhl p 5b (Phleum pratensis), nArt v 1 and nArt v 3 (Artemisia vulgaris). Finally, basophil activation tests were performed with rCan s 3. Both patients, denying any previous active exposure to cannabis and presenting with respiratory and/or cutaneous allergic symptoms upon passive cannabis exposure, also reported severe allergic symptoms to plant-foods. All patients showed positive SPT results for cannabis, sIgE reactivity to rCan s 3 and basophil activation upon stimulation with rCan s 3. Although it is difficult to demonstrate with certainty, we believe that our case histories suggest that cannabis-related allergies might result from passive exposure.
- Published
- 2017
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