Immunoblotting study of specific antibody patterns against latex and banana

We evaluated three nurses presenting with hypersensitivity to latex gloves: the first suffered from rhinitis and asthma caused by latex and cutaneous and respiratory symptoms by banana; the second, allergic to grass pollens, had systemic symptoms handling latex gloves but no reactivity against banana; the third, with no history of allergic disease, had contact urticaria caused by latex. Skin prick tests and RAST confirmed the presence of specific IgE to latex in all the patients. By means of immunoblot after SDS-PAGE the pattern of antibody response (IgE/IgG) proved to be characteristic to each subject. Moreover, pre-incubation of patient sera with the banana extract could completely absorb the specific anti-banana IgE of the patient allergic to both latex and banana, but failed to modify the anti-latex IgE pattern of the three patients, even if the anti-latex IgG pattern partially changed. In our opinion immunoblotting techniques could play a role in clarifying a complex individual response to unusual allergens.