Hypergammaglobulinaemia E in HOdgkin's disease and its relationship to atopy or a familial predisposition to atopy.

We have found a normal incidence of atopy among patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD). Atopic HD patients had serum IgE levels and allergen specificities similar to those observed in an atopic but otherwise normal population. An atopic family background increased the number of weakly positive allergen responses in otherwise non-atopic HD patients. This effect of atopic background is known to be true for normal healthy subjects. serum IgE was raised in a third of the non-atopic HD patients but they showed neither an increase in allergen specificity nor a more frequent atopic family background than patients with normal IgE. IgE was the most frequently raised immunoglobulin class and was due to its increased synthesis. We concluded that the hyper-IgE which occurs in non-atopic HD patients is distinct from the increase in allergen-specific IgE which occurs in atopy.)