title: Postmortem serum levels of IgE and mast cell tryptase in fatal asthma.
abstract: The aim of this study was to characterize the concentrations of total and specific IgE as well as mast cell-derived tryptase in postmortem serum from femoral blood and evaluate the usefulness of their determination for diagnostic purposes in cases of fatal asthma attacks. 36 autopsy cases were retrospectively selected including cases of witnessed death in asthmatic subjects, deaths in asthmatics and atopic subjects with causes of death unrelated to asthma or allergic anaphylaxis as well as deaths in non-atopic, non-allergic individuals with causes of death unrelated to asthma or allergic anaphylaxis. Initial results indicated increased postmortem serum total IgE in atopic and asthmatic individuals, irrespective of the cause of death. Conversely, increased mast cell tryptase levels were noted exclusively in fatal asthma attacks. This suggests that mast cell tryptase measurement in cases of death potentially caused by severe acute bronchial asthma may be useful for diagnostic purposes.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Medicina di Comunità, Università degli Studi di Verona, Policlinico G.B. Rossi, P.le L.A. Scuro 10, 37134 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Pia
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Scarpelli
authors.affiliation: CURML, University Center of Legal Medicine, Chemin de la Vulliette 4, 1000, Lausanne 25, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sanjiv
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.affiliation: CURML, University Center of Legal Medicine, Chemin de la Vulliette 4, 1000, Lausanne 25, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: CURML, University Center of Legal Medicine, Chemin de la Vulliette 4, 1000, Lausanne 25, Switzerland. Electronic address: cristian.palmiere@chuv.ch.
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Palmiere
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D053802:Tryptases / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D053802:Tryptases
keywords: Asthma; Autopsy; Death; Forensic; Postmortem biochemistry; Tryptase