Tobacco as an allergen in bronchial disease

Skin testing and sera measurements have verified the existence of tobacco specific IgE. However, the few published studies on this matter report conflicting results concerning their clinical significance.

To verify if a specific clinical allergenic response against tobacco might be possible in allergenic and nonallergenic bronchial diseases.

We performed a cross-sectional observational case-control analysis on 180 patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and bronchial carcinoma and controls who were randomly chosen. Skin prick tests and serum specific IgE to tobacco and related allergens, bronchial challenge with cigarettes and tobacco extract, patch tests with tobacco and nicotine, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis immunoblotting, and Enzyme AllergoSorbent Test (EAST) inhibition were performed.

Twenty-eight patients had positive tobacco skin prick test results. The association among positive skin prick test results, IgE, and bronchial challenge was strong (P < .001). Tobacco sensitivity was higher in patients with pollen asthma than in patients with COPD and carcinoma and negative in patients with intrinsic asthma and controls. A positive bronchial challenge result was related to the length of habit (P < .001) and the tobacco index in patients who had stopped smoking (P < .001). Delayed bronchial and patch response was more common in patients with COPD (P < .001). Tobacco IgE response (EAST) was related to sensitivity to Lolium perenne (rye grass) pollen (P < .001) but not to other vegetables that belong to the Solanaceae family. EAST inhibition showed cross-reactivity between tobacco and Lolium pollen.

Tobacco may be responsible for a specific IgE response. Patients with pollen asthma were those with more positive responses to tobacco due to cross-reactivity between Lolium and tobacco allergens.