Immunologic mechanisms in the production of food sensitivities

Fifty-five test patients and ten control patients were selected for provocation of symptoms using the oral challenge test. The provoking food was selected with the use of the leukocyte cytotoxic test. The test patients developed adverse symptomatology clinically while the control patients did not. During the phase of symptomatology it was shown that IgE did not change in the blood and, therefore, the Type I, anaphylactic type of reaction, which is IgE dependent, did not participate in symptom production. It was shown that 2 components of the classical pathway of complement C3 and C4 were utilized in the test group and not in the control group. Complement is 1 of the 2 components of the humoral system of the human immune system. C4 is one of the components that is triggered by the classic complement pathway, whose stimulus is IgG and IgM, and not by the other complement pathways. It can therefore be hypothesized that all the components of the circulatory humoral system are participating in this reaction and that Type II, the cytotoxic, and Type III, th immune-complex type of immunologic reaction, are the major contributors in the production of symptoms.