Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Department of Biostatistics, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Parasit Vectors. 2020 Sep 14;13(1):470. doi: 10.1186/s13071-020-04343-4.
Alpha-gal is an oligosaccharide implicated in delayed anaphylaxis following red meat consumption. Exposure to tick bites has been correlated with development of an allergic response to alpha-gal. However, evidence prospectively linking exposure to a single tick species and an immune response to alpha-gal is lacking.
We used serum samples from a prior study cohort of outdoor workers in North Carolina, USA, with high exposure to the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, to prospectively evaluate the relationship between tick bites and anti-alpha-gal IgE antibodies.
Individuals who reported exposure to one or more tick bites were significantly more likely to have a positive change in anti-alpha-gal IgE compared to individuals with no reported tick bites. This relationship was not dependent on time. A trend toward increasing number of tick bites and increased anti-alpha-gal IgE levels was observed but not statistically significant.
To our knowledge, this is the first study to prospectively link documented exposure to A. americanum bites and increased sensitization to alpha-gal in a cohort of outdoor workers. Our results support the role of A. americanum as likely agents for eliciting an allergic response to red meat, and highlight the importance of preventing tick bites.
α-半乳糖苷是一种寡糖，与食用红肉后迟发性过敏反应有关。蜱虫叮咬与对α-半乳糖苷的过敏反应有关。然而，缺乏前瞻性证据表明接触单一蜱种与对α-半乳糖苷的免疫反应有关。
我们使用来自美国北卡罗来纳州户外工作者的一项先前研究队列的血清样本，这些人暴露于孤星蜱（Amblyomma americanum），以前瞻性评估蜱虫叮咬与抗α-半乳糖苷 IgE 抗体之间的关系。
与没有报告蜱虫叮咬的个体相比，报告有一次或多次蜱虫叮咬的个体更有可能发生抗α-半乳糖苷 IgE 的阳性变化。这种关系与时间无关。观察到蜱虫叮咬次数增加和抗α-半乳糖苷 IgE 水平升高的趋势，但无统计学意义。
据我们所知，这是第一项前瞻性研究，将 A. americanum 叮咬的有记录暴露与户外工作者队列中对α-半乳糖苷的致敏增加联系起来。我们的结果支持孤星蜱可能是引起对红肉过敏反应的原因，并强调预防蜱虫叮咬的重要性。
