Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.) logoLink to British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.)
. 1982 Jan 30;284(6312):306–309. doi: 10.1136/bmj.284.6312.306

Failure of hyposensitisation in treatment of children with grass-pollen asthma.

D J Hill, C S Hosking, M J Shelton, M W Turner
PMCID: PMC1495893  PMID: 6800440

Abstract

Twenty asthmatic children with laboratory proved bronchial reactivity to rye-grass pollen were studied over two consecutive grass-pollen seasons. In the first year 11 patients received preseasonal hyposensitisation treatment with an aqueous rye extract and nine received placebo injections. No treatment was given in the second year. Patients in both the active-treatment and placebo groups showed a pronounced clinical deterioration in their asthma during both pollen seasons. Serum concentrations of IgG-specific antibodies to the rye allergen before treatment were similar in both groups, but after immunotherapy and before the pollen season in the first year these antibody concentrations were raised significantly in the treated group (p less than 0.005): by the middle of the pollen seasons the difference was no longer significant. IgE-specific antibodies showed a similar but nonsignificant pattern of response. We found no evidence that limited hyposensitisation with a pollen extract is of any clinical benefit in seasonal asthma despite evidence of an immunological response.

Full text

PDF
306

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aas K. Hyposensitization in house dust allergy asthma. A double-blind controlled study with evaluation of the effect on bronchial sensitivity to house dust. Acta Paediatr Scand. 1971 May;60(3):264–268. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1971.tb06655.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chapman M. D., Platts-Mills T. A., Gabriel M., Ng H. K., Allan W. G., Hill L. E., Nunn A. J. Antibody response following prolonged hyposensitization with Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus extract. Int Arch Allergy Appl Immunol. 1980;61(4):431–440. doi: 10.1159/000232471. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. FRANKLAND A. W., AUGUSTIN R. Prophylaxis of summer hay-fever and asthma: a controlled trial comparing crude grass-pollen extracts with the isolated main protein component. Lancet. 1954 May 22;266(6821):1055–1057. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(54)91620-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Foucard T., Johansson S. G. Allergen-specific IgE and IgG antibodies in pollenallergic children given immunotherapy for 2-6 years. Clin Allergy. 1978 May;8(3):249–257. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.1978.tb03221.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hamilton P. J., Dawson A. A., Galloway W. H. Congenital erythroid hypoplastic anaemia in mother and daughter. Arch Dis Child. 1974 Jan;49(1):71–73. doi: 10.1136/adc.49.1.71. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hill D. J., Smart I. J., Knox R. B. Childhood asthma and grass pollen aerobiology in Melbourne. Med J Aust. 1979 May 19;1(10):426–429. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1979.tb127014.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Jones N. F., Walker G., Ruthven C. R., Sandler M. Alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine in the management of phaeochromocytoma. Lancet. 1968 Nov 23;2(7578):1105–1109. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(68)91579-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Platts-Mills T. A., Snajdr M. J., Ishizaka K., Frankland A. W. Measurement of IgE antibody by an antigen-binding assay: correlation with PK activity and IgG and IgA antibodies to allergens. J Immunol. 1978 Apr;120(4):1201–1210. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Sadan N., Rhyne M. B., Mellits E. D., Goldstein E. O., Levy D. A., Lichtenstein L. M. Immunotherapy of pollinosis in children: investigation of the immunologic basis of clinical improvement. N Engl J Med. 1969 Mar 20;280(12):623–627. doi: 10.1056/NEJM196903202801201. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Smith J. M. Skin tests and atopic allergy in children. Clin Allergy. 1973 Sep;3(3):269–275. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.1973.tb01333.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Warner J. O., Price J. F. House dust mite sensitivity in childhood asthma. Arch Dis Child. 1978 Sep;53(9):710–713. doi: 10.1136/adc.53.9.710. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Warner J. O., Price J. F., Soothill J. F., Hey E. N. Controlled trial of hyposensitisation to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus in children with asthma. Lancet. 1978 Oct 28;2(8096):912–915. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(78)91630-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Yunginger J. W., Gleich G. J. Seasonal changes in IgE antibodies and their relationship to IgG antibodies during immunotherapy for ragweed hay fever. J Clin Invest. 1973 May;52(5):1268–1275. doi: 10.1172/JCI107294. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Medical Journal (Clinical research ed.) are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES