Allergology International
Online ISSN : 1440-1592
Print ISSN : 1323-8930
ISSN-L : 1323-8930
Volume 49, Issue 3
Displaying 1-7 of 7 articles from this issue
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
  • Hideaki Taira, Hidetoyo Teranishi, Yukiko Kenda
    2000 Volume 49 Issue 3 Pages 175-181
    Published: 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: March 16, 2006
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Cryptomeria japonica D. Don (the so-called Sugi or Japanese cedar) is one of the most important coniferous afforestation species. Its afforestation area today has reached 4.5 million hectares, making up 45% of the afforestation area in Japan. Cryptomeria japonica pollinosis was first reported in 1964. The prevalence of this disease has increased yearly and now affects over 10% of the Japanease population. In order to establish an accurate prediction method of airborne pollen counts for C. japonica, research into the relationship between the amount of airborne pollen, the distribution of C. japonica forests and flowering conditions has become very important. In order to clarify differences in airborne pollen counts at different altitudes, four gravity samplers (Durham's type) were set up at four observation points that were located from the coast to the side of a mountain up to 780 m altitude in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. The male flowering index and distribution of C. japonica forests were determined in order to evaluate the quantity of male flowers. The relationship between airborne pollen counts, the distribution of C. japonica forests and the male flowering index at each observation point was examined. There was a high positive correlation between the male flowering index of C. japonica and airborne pollen counts. The male flowering indices, as well as the distribution of C. japonica forests at different altitudes, were closely associated with airborne pollen counts at different altitudinal observation points. The flowering index and the distribution of C. japonica forests are useful indicators for the accurate prediction airborne pollen counts of C. japonica.
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  • Tetsuji Yamashita, Nobuhisa Terada, Nanako Hamano, Hirohisa Kishi, Nor ...
    2000 Volume 49 Issue 3 Pages 183-188
    Published: 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: March 16, 2006
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    It has recently been shown that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) enhances vascular permeability and that mast cells produce VEGF, suggesting the involvement of VEGF in allergic diseases. In the present study we quantitatively analyzed VEGF in the nasal lavage fluid of patients with nasal allergy. We performed nasal antigen challenge with Japanese cedar pollen antigen in 10 healthy adult volunteers and in 10 cedar pollen IgE-positive patients with nasal allergy. In all patients with nasal allergy, VEGF and histamine levels in the nasal lavage fluid reached a peak 30 min after antigen challenge, then returned to prechallenge values 2 h after antigen challenge. In these patients, the histamine level increased three-fold, while the VEGF level increased 10-fold. However, in all healthy adult volunteers, VEGF and histamine levels did not increase. A stronger correlation was noted between the ratio of decreased nasal cavity volume and the ratio of increased VEGF levels (R = 0.823; P < 0.001) than between the ratio of nasal cavity volume and the ratio of increased histamine levels (R = 0.660; P < 0.01). These results suggest that VEGF may contribute to the pathogenesis of nasal obstruction in the early phase of nasal allergy as a new factor involved in increasing vascular permeability.
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  • Gen Tamura, Hiroshi Inoue, Junichi Chihara, Tamotsu Takishima
    2000 Volume 49 Issue 3 Pages 189-194
    Published: 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: March 16, 2006
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Although the efficacy of cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonists in asthma therapy has been established through controlled clinical trials, there are no data concerning the effectiveness of their use in clinical practice, in which there is no rigid selection based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of pranlukast in clinical practice. More than 2500 outpatients with mild to severe persistent asthma answered an input questionnaire, which consisted of 33 items assessing asthma symptoms in terms of six activities of daily living during the previous 2 weeks. Of these patients, 1138 received treatment with pranlukast and answered the same questionnaire 4-6 weeks after the start of treatment. In 923 of these 1138 patients, we examined the impact of concomitantly used inhaled steroids, β2-adrenergic agonists or sustained-release theophylline on the effectiveness of pranlukast treatment. One hundred and sixty-seven control patients completed the questionnaire twice but did not receive pranlukast treatment. We found a significant decrease in the number of asthma symptoms reported among both the 1138 patients treated with pranlukast and the 167 control patients. However, the magnitude of the decrease in symptoms was significantly (P < 0.001) greater with pranlukast treatment. Moreover, pranlukast was equally efficacious in the presence and absence of concomitantly used inhaled steroids, β2-adrenergic agonists or sustained-release theophylline. In conclusion, pranlukast was shown to have clinical effective- ness in the treatment of mild to severe persistent asthma symptoms.
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  • Yukiyoshi Yanagihara, Keiichi Kajiwara, Yuji Basaki, Koichi Ikizawa, M ...
    2000 Volume 49 Issue 3 Pages 195-204
    Published: 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: March 16, 2006
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    We have previously reported that an adenosine deaminase (ADA)-deficient patient treated with T cell-directed gene therapy had an increase in serum IgE levels, despite a marked inversion of the CD4/CD8 ratio. In the present report, we have analyzed the phenotypic and functional profiles of the patient's lymphocytes obtained during the clinical trial. In peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) that were freshly prepared from the patient, both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets were negative for CD40 ligand (CD40L; CD154) and Fas ligand (FasL; CD95L), while CD20+ B cells constitutively expressed CD40 and HLA-DR and were negative for CD80, CD86 and Fas (CD95). The expression of CD23 was detected on the majority of CD20+ B cells and expression was upregulated by interleukin (IL)-4. Furthermore, the patient's PBMC, which already expressed both germline and mature Cεtranscripts in vivo, spontaneously secreted IgE and responded to IL-4 with increased IgE production during in vitro culture. When stimulated with anti-CD3ε monoclonal antibody (mAb), CD8+ T cells from gene-transduced T cells displayed high production of interferon (IFN)-γ, low production of IL-4 and IL-13 and comparable levels of CD40L and FasL expression; however, lined CD8+ T cells from circulating T cells expressing the transgene produced IL-4 and IL-13 together with smaller amounts of IFN-γ and preferably expressed CD40L rather than FasL. Two such CD8+ T cells, in conjunction with the presence of IL-4, supported CD40L- mediated B cell proliferation and IgE production after stimulation and fixation. These results indicate that ADA-deficient B cells are functionally mature and that gene-transduced CD8+ T cells and lined CD8+ T cells containing the transgene exhibit T helper 0- and T cytotoxic (c) 2-like phenotypes, respectively. Our data also suggest that immuno-logic reconstitution with genetically modified CD8+ T cells may promote IgE production.
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  • Kumiya Sugiyama, Takako Sugiyama, Masao Toda, Tatsuo Yukawa, Sohei Mak ...
    2000 Volume 49 Issue 3 Pages 205-211
    Published: 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: March 16, 2006
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    To analyze the prevalence and severity of asthma, rhinitis and eczema in children living in different countries, the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) was developed. The ISAAC Phase One study evaluated approximately 720000 children in 56 countries, including Japan. In late 1995 and early 1996, we administered the ISAAC questionnaire to 4466 schoolchildren aged 13-14 years of age in 24 schools in Utsunomiya City and Tochigi City (both in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan). With regard to asthma, the reported prevalence of wheezing in the preceding 12 months was 8.4%, of frequent wheezing attacks 0.6% and of wheezing with sleep disturbance 0.5%. The prevalence in the preceding 12 months of rhinitis was 42.1% and of rhinoconjunctivitis was 21.5%. Nasal symptoms were most frequent in April (19.9%) and least frequent in July (5.6%). The prevalence of atopic eczema in the prior 12 months was 9.6% and atopic eczema with sleep disturbance was 0.6%. All prevalence values were slightly increased in Utsunomiya City, the largest city in Tochigi Prefecture, in comparison with Tochigi City. In conclusion, in Japanese cities, 33.3% of children had some allergic symptoms and 2.4% of children reported severe allergic symptoms.
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  • Yoshiko Takeda, Hiroko Kawakami, Seiko Shigeta, Hisao Kamiya, Reiko On ...
    2000 Volume 49 Issue 3 Pages 213-218
    Published: 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: March 16, 2006
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The red soft coral that is found around the spiny lobster represents a major allergen and many fishermen, especially those that catch the spiny lobster, suffer from allergic symptoms. Therefore, in the present study, one of the major fractions of this protein was isolated and purified from the red soft coral (Alcyonium gracillimum). Sodium dodecyl sulfatepolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblot analyses showed that the molecular weight of the allergen is approximately 14.4-20.1 kDa. Continuous purification of the protein resulted in a peptide with a molecular weight of 17 kDa. Immunoblotting and ELISA tests showed that the isolated peptide (17 kDa) strongly cross-reacted with the IgE of patients, thus classifying it as a significant allergen.
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CASE REPROT
  • Helmut Gall
    2000 Volume 49 Issue 3 Pages 219-221
    Published: 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: March 16, 2006
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The present paper reports on a 26-year-old atopic patient suffering from seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis and flexural eczemas. On two occasions, he experienced nausea, generalized urticaria and dyspnea within 2 h after consumption of a wholemeal roll and subsequent exercise (football training or walking). In each case, the episode necessitated intravenous emergency therapy with an antihistamine and a corticosteroid. In order to elucidate the two exercise-induced anaphylactic events we performed prick tests and the radioallergosorbent test (RAST) with the ingredients of the wholemeal roll. Only flaxseed gave positive results. In addition, we performed an exercise test on a bicycle ergometer (15 min at 150 W) and an oral challenge test with foods, using a double-blind and placebo-controlled study. Only oral challenge with a teaspoon of flaxseed with additional exercise on the bicycle ergometer elicited itching, urticaria, nausea, coughing and dyspnea. The oral challenge with flaxseed followed by exercise induced immediate-type reactions and, thus, led to the diagnosis of food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis to flaxseed.
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