title: Mast cell tryptase levels in gut mucosa in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms caused by food allergy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Mast cells, which are important effector cells in food allergy, require a special histologic treatment for quantification in endoscopic gastrointestinal samples. The objective of this study was to investigate whether mast cell tryptase (T), a typical mast cell-associated marker, may help to detect patients with food allergy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mast cell T was investigated from 289 colorectal samples of 73 controls, 302 samples from 43 patients with food allergy and gastrointestinal symptoms, and 72 samples from 12 patients with partial or complete remission of allergic symptoms. Endoscopically taken samples were immediately put into liquid nitrogen, mechanically homogenized by a micro-dismembrator with three homogenization steps and tissue T content (ng T/mg wet weight) was measured by fluoroenzyme immunoassay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Tissue T levels from the lower gastrointestinal tract were significantly elevated (p < 0.0001) in patients with manifest gastrointestinal allergy (median: 55.7, range: 9.3-525.0) compared with controls (median: 33.5, range: 8.0-154.6). A subgroup of 12 patients with remission of allergy showed markedly decreased symptom scores and mucosal T levels after more than 1 year of antiallergic therapy (pretreatment median: 54.1, range: 37.0-525.0 and posttreatment median: 28.4, range: 19.8-69.1; p = 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High T levels in the gut of food-allergic patients support the role of stimulated mast cells or an increased mast cell number.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine I, Functional Tissue Diagnostics, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany. Alexander.Hagel@uk-erlangen.de
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Hagel
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: deRossi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zopf
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Konturek
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dauth
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kressel
authors.forename: E G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raithel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D053802:Tryptases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D053802:Tryptases