IgE-mediated rhesus monkey asthma: natural history and individual animal variation

This report reviews the 20 years of experience with naturally occurring allergy in dogs and allergic rhesus monkeys. The primate model of allergy is characterized by IgE-mediated cutaneous and respiratory responses to Ascaris antigen. Individual assessments of these monkeys have been carried out over several years and separate populations which are analogous to human IgE-mediated allergic populations defined. These populations are as follows: (1) monkeys which have persistent and consistent IgE-mediated cutaneous and asthmatic responses to Ascaris antigen; (2) monkeys which have cutaneous and airway reactivity to Ascaris antigen but in which the airway reactivity subsides and disappears analogous to a spontaneous remission human asthma, and (3) finally, there is a group of animals with cutaneous reactivity but no asthma analogous to humans with a similar absence of asthma. Within these groups the animals, like humans, have individual variations of severity.