title: Prevalence of atopy, eosinophilia, and IgE elevation in IgG4-related disease.
abstract: IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a fibroinflammatory disorder that can affect virtually every organ system. T-helper type 2 responses have been presumed to be pathogenic in this disease, and a high proportion of patients with IgG4-RD are reported to have longstanding allergies, peripheral blood eosinophilia, and serum IgE elevation. It has therefore been proposed that allergic mechanisms drive IgG4-RD. However, no epidemiological assessment of atopy, peripheral blood eosinophilia, and serum IgE concentrations has ever been undertaken in patients with IgG4-RD. In this study, we evaluated these parameters in a large cohort of patients with IgG4-RD in whom a wide range of organs were affected by disease. Our results demonstrate that the majority of patients with IgG4-RD are nonatopic. Nevertheless, a subset of nonatopic subjects exhibit peripheral blood eosinophilia and elevated IgE, suggesting that processes inherent to IgG4-RD itself rather than atopy per se contribute to the eosinophilia and IgE elevation observed in the absence of atopy.
authors.affiliation: Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA.|Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, School of Medicine, Unit of Medicine and Clinical immunology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Della Torre
authors.affiliation: Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mattoo
authors.affiliation: Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA.
authors.forename: Vinay S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Mahajan
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA.
authors.forename: Mollie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carruthers
authors.affiliation: Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA.
authors.forename: Shiv
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pillai
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA.
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Stone
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D004802:Eosinophilia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood*; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007073:Immunoglobulin E
keywords: IgG4-related disease; Th2 response; allergy; atopy; eosinophilia