University Clinic of Respiratory and Allergic Diseases, Golnik, Slovenia.
Clin Exp Allergy. 2010 Aug;40(8):1186-93. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.2010.03524.x. Epub 2010 May 31.
The effects of pollen immunotherapy on effector cells of allergic inflammation, such as mast cells and basophils, are poorly understood.
For this reason, we conducted an open study on basophil allergen threshold sensitivity during birch pollen immunotherapy.
Basophil sensitivity was measured by CD63 flow cytometry in 14 patients with moderate-severe intermittent birch pollen rhinitis using four log allergen concentrations. In nine patients, we analysed the basophil sensitivity before and during treatment with subcutaneous birch immunotherapy (perennial scheme with allergoid). We also included eight birch-allergic donor subjects for IgG inhibition experiments and eight control subjects.
There was a decrease in basophil allergen threshold sensitivity after 2, 3, and 5 months of immunotherapy. This decrease was correlated with an improvement in patients' symptoms measured on a visual analogue scale. The serum obtained after immunotherapy induced a significant decrease in allergen threshold sensitivity in donor birch-allergic basophils. This inhibition was not observed after IgG depletion from the serum.
In this study, we showed that birch immunotherapy-induced IgG antibodies are associated with a reduction in basophil allergen threshold sensitivity. Further studies are needed to show whether the changes in basophil sensitivity are of clinical relevance in pollen immunotherapy.
花粉免疫疗法对过敏炎症的效应细胞（如肥大细胞和嗜碱性粒细胞）的影响知之甚少。
因此，我们进行了一项关于桦树花粉免疫治疗期间嗜碱性粒细胞过敏原阈值敏感性的开放性研究。
通过 CD63 流式细胞术，用四种对数过敏原浓度测量 14 例中重度间歇性桦树花粉鼻炎患者的嗜碱性粒细胞敏感性。在 9 例患者中，我们分析了皮下桦树免疫治疗（变应原性常年方案）治疗前和治疗期间的嗜碱性粒细胞敏感性。我们还包括 8 名桦树过敏供体受试者进行 IgG 抑制实验和 8 名对照受试者。
免疫治疗 2、3 和 5 个月后，嗜碱性粒细胞过敏原阈值敏感性降低。这种降低与患者在视觉模拟量表上测量的症状改善相关。免疫治疗后获得的血清可显著降低供体桦树过敏嗜碱性粒细胞的过敏原阈值敏感性。从血清中耗尽 IgG 后未观察到这种抑制。
在这项研究中，我们表明桦树免疫治疗诱导的 IgG 抗体与嗜碱性粒细胞过敏原阈值敏感性降低有关。需要进一步的研究来表明嗜碱性粒细胞敏感性的变化在花粉免疫治疗中是否具有临床相关性。
