Asthma after consumption of snails in house-dust-mite-allergic patients: a case of IgE cross-reactivity.
A group of 28 patients from Italy was studied who had asthma after consumption of snail. All patients also had asthma and/or rhinitis caused by house-dust mite. RAST analyses confirmed the combined sensitization to snail and mite. In a few sera, IgE antibodies reactive with other foods of invertebrate origin (mussel and shrimp) were detected. RAST inhibition showed that most IgE antibodies against snail were cross-reactive with house-dust mite. In contrast, the mite RAST was not significantly inhibited by snail. This indicates that house-dust mite was the sensitizing agent. Immunoblot analyses revealed multiple bands in snail extract recognized by IgE. In contrast to what has been described for cross-reactivity between shrimp and mite, tropomyosin played only a minor role as a cross-reactive allergen in these patients. The observations in this study indicate that snail consumption can cause severe asthmatic symptoms in house-dust-mite-allergic patients. It might, therefore, be advisable to screen mite-allergic asthma patients for allergy to snail and other invertebrate animal foods.
van Ree
R
R
Central Laboratory of The Netherlands Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Antonicelli
L
L
Akkerdaas
J H
JH
Pajno
G B
GB
Barberio
G
G
Corbetta
L
L
Ferro
G
G
Zambito
M
M
Garritani
M S
MS
Aalberse
R C
RC
Bonifazi
F
F
D000328:Adult; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology; D049872:Bivalvia; D003429:Cross Reactions; D033364:Decapoda; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008925:Mites; D011852:Radioallergosorbent Test; D012908:Snails
D000485:Allergens; D007073:Immunoglobulin E