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Development of immunoglobulins to venoms during specific immunotherapy
M L Palma-Carlos1, M C Santos, E Pedro
1Clinica Universitaria de Medicina I, Instituto de Imunologia e Centro de Hematologia e Imunologia, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Portugal.
Abstract:
Immunotherapy against venoms (itv) is an efficacious treatment for most subjects who are allergic to hymnenoptera venoms. The authors studied 8 patients: 7 who were allergic to honey been venom and 1 who was allergic to wasp venom, followed for two years during immunotherapy with an aqueous extract of pure venoms from ALBAY Dome Hollister Stier. Specific IgE and IgG4 were evaluated by the Elisa Cap Technique of Pharmacia at different times: T0 before immunotherapy, T1 (one year after) and T2 (2 years after). A significant fall of specific IgE (p < 0.02) and a significant increase in specific IgG4 (p < 0.008) were seen during the two years in all patients. Four of the patients were re-stung and none had systemic reactions. These results suggest that increase in specific IgG4 is correlated with the protective effect of immunotherapy.