1975 Volume 24 Issue 9 Pages 650-655,688-68
A case of baker's asthma is reported. The history of his illness definitely indicated that he was allergic to the flour. Skin test and ophthalmic test were positive to flour-extract. In the patient's serum, anti-flour IgE antibody was proved employing the RAST (radioallergosorbent test) technique. After the protein portion to the extract was precipitated with TCA (trichloracetic acid), remaining supernatant was tested whether it still possessed antigenicity, which showed that this protein-free preparation still yielded erythema reaction on the patient's skin. These fact suggests that although the antigenicity of the extract lies mainly in the protein portion of the extract, other portion may also contribute to the antigenicity. After his serum was neutralized with gliadin or glutenin, the main components of the flour protein, RAST was performed employing flour-paper-discs. RAST was performed employing gliadin and glutenin-paper discs. These showed that the antigenicity of flour lies in both of these proteins. Hyposensitization therapy was continued for two and a half years, and clinical course of the patient was observed. No definite improvement was shown, although his state was best during the period while he left his factory. It is suggested that baker's asthma should be treated from an occupational and environmental point of view, and too much stress should not be put on the effectiveness of hyposensitization therapy.
