Ahmed Hamed, DeVon C Preston, Will Eschenbacher, Dilawar Khokhar, Lisa Workman, John W Steinke, Peter Heymann, Monica Lawrence, Manuel Soto-Quiros, Thomas AE Platts-Mills, Spencer Payne, Larry Borish (2019)
Practitioners from various specialties investigated the presence of local IgE production in the nose of allergic and non-allergic people and assessed whether it was enhanced by rhinovirus.
Initial studies were performed in patients presenting to the emergency department for allergic and non-allergic respiratory complaints. Local production of specific IgE was determined by comparing ratios of specific to total IgE concentrations between nasal and serum samples.
The analysis revealed evidence of local sIgE production to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Blomia tropicalis in 30.3 and 14.6% of allergic patients, respectively. Patients with active rhinovirus infection were more than twice as likely to have local sIgE, and those with sIgE being produced were three times more likely to have an asthma exacerbation.
In conclusion, local IgE production happens in allergic rhinitis and allergic asthmatics with local IgE are more likely to develop an asthma exacerbation when infected with rhinovirus.
