Investigations into the cellular immune responses in latex allergy

Latex allergy is a hypersensitivity response to allergens in the natural latex products. Skin prick tests, which do not correlate very well with latex-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE), are yet the only reliable diagnostic tools for clinically determining hypersensitivity to latex. In this study, patients who were skin test (SPT) positive with (STP+/ANA+) or without (SPT+/ANA-) history of anaphylaxis formed the test groups. Healthy volunteers (SPT-/ANA-) served as controls. Lymphocyte proliferation in response to crude and purified latex antigens, serum immunoglobulin E-total, and latex-specific and in vitro immunoglobulin E (IgE) production in response to crude latex antigens were studied. Results indicate that both patient groups showed enhanced response to latex antigen by lymphoproliferation. In patient groups this response to the different antigens tested, or to crude versus purified antigens, was not statistically different. Serum total IgE (ng/ml) was elevated in patients (range, SPT+/ANA-, 40 to 1250; SPT+/ANA+, 40 to 4550) when compared with controls (40 to 450). Low levels (1 to 3 ng/ml) of IgE were detected in the peripheral blood mononuclear cell culture supernatants from the patient groups. These levels were < or = 1 ng/ml in the control group. Significant levels of IgE (log titer, mean +/- SD) specific to MFL1 and glove antigens were measured in serum from both SPT+/ANA- (MFL1, 1.85 +/- 0.23, p < 0.001; glove, 1.81 +/- 0.23, p < 0.001) and SPT+/ANA- (MFL1, 1.92 +/- 0.39, p < 0.007; glove 1.85 +/- 0.4, p < 0.006) and compared with results from the control group (MFL1, 1.50 +/- 0.1; glove, 1.38 +/- 0.19).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)