RESEARCH ARTICLE
IgE Mediated Wheat Allergy Associated with Resistant and Severe Forms of Allergic Conjunctivitis
Khulood M. Sayed1, Abdellah H. Ali2, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2022Volume: 16
E-location ID: e187430642208170
Publisher ID: e187430642208170
DOI: 10.2174/18743064-v16-e2208170
Article History:
Received Date: 11/4/2022Revision Received Date: 8/6/2022
Acceptance Date: 15/6/2022
Electronic publication date: 10/10/2022
Collection year: 2022
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Objective:
This study aimed to determine the prevalence and criteria of wheat allergy (WA) among patients with resistant allergic conjunctivitis (AC).
Methods:
A prospective comparative study was conducted on 100 patients with resistant AC. Skin prick-tests (SPTs), total and sIgE against a panel of inhalant and food allergens were performed in all patients’ sera. They were divided into 2 groups according to skin prick test (SPT) and specific IgE (sIgE) level, namely the wheat sensitive group (WSG) and wheat tolerant group (WTG). Total ocular symptom scores (TOSS) and 4-point sign scales were correlated for both groups.
Results:
Ten patients out of 100 with IgE-mediated resistant AC were wheat sensitive, and the other 90 were wheat tolerant patients. WSG included patients of significantly younger age. Positive family history of atopy was proven in 100% of WSG vs. 67% of WTG. A significantly higher frequency of multiorgan allergy was detected in 100% of WSG vs. 20% in WTG (P = 0.0001). Thirty (30%) of WSG had associated allergic rhinitis (AR) and bronchial asthma (BA). Another 30% had an associated AR only, 10% had an associated BA only, and another 20% had an associated skin allergy. TOSS, 4- point sign scale, and total IgE level were significantly higher in WSG.
Conclusion:
This study provides novel evidence that wheat allergy is responsible for some severe forms of AC.
