title: Spondylarthritis presenting with an allergic immediate systemic reaction to adalimumab in a woman: a case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The efficacy of adalimumab, a fully human anti-tumor necrosis factor α recombinant antibody, has dramatically improved the quality of life of patients with rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis and Crohn's disease. Because it is fully human, one should not expect immune reactions to this molecule. Adverse reactions to adalimumab are limited mainly to injection site reactions and are very common. Immediate systemic reactions are rarely reported.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report the case of a 61-year-old Caucasian woman who was treated with adalimumab for spondylarthritis and developed injection site reactions after the sixth dose. After a two-month suspension, she recommenced therapy and experienced two systemic reactions. The first occurred after one hour with itching of the palms and soles and angioedema of the tongue and lips. Thirty minutes after the next dose the patient had itching of the palms and soles with diffusion to her whole body, angioedema of the lips, dizziness and visual disturbances. A skin-prick test and intra-dermal tests with adalimumab gave strong positive results at the immediate reading. However, serum-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) to adalimumab were not detectable by using Phadia solid phase, especially harvested for this case, in collaboration with our Immunology and Allergy Laboratory Unit. Her total IgE concentration was 6.4 kU/L.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We describe what is, to the best of our knowledge, the first reported case of immediate systemic reaction to adalimumab studied with a skin test giving positive results and a serum-specific IgE assay giving negative results. The mechanism of the reaction must be immunologic but not IgE-mediated.
authors.affiliation: Allergy and Clinical Immunology Unit, Ospedale S, Giovanni di Dio, Via di Torregalli 3, I-50143 Firenze, Italy. paopaocampi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Benucci
authors.forename: Mariangela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manfredi
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Testi
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Iorno
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valentini
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Soldaini
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Campi