Preliminary results of a skin prick test-based study of the prevalence and clinical impact of hypersensitivity to pollen panallergens (polcalcin and profilin)

Background: calcium-binding proteins (polcalcins) and profilin are cross-reacting panallergens that sensitize a minority of pollen-allergic patients. their clinical relevance remains controversial. objective: to assess the clinical relevance of hypersensitivity to polcalcin and profilin detected by skin prick test (spt) in a large group of pollen-allergic patients. methods: two hundred pollen-allergic adults (101 men,99 women; mean age 34 years) underwent spt with 9 pollens present in the geographical area of the study. hypersensitivity to panallergens was detected by spt with date palm polcalcin and profilin. allergy to birch and/or cypress,grass and/or pellitory,and ragweed and/or mugwort were associated with 3 symptomatic periods,respectively,late february to mid-may,late april to mid-july,and mid-august to late september. results: sixteen (8%) patients reacted to date palm polcalcin; 7/7 (100%) corecognized the grass polcalcin phl p 7 in vitro. clinically,only 4 (25%) had symptoms in all 3 seasonal periods. forty (20%) patients reacted to profilin; only 32 (80%) reacted to cypress,and 22 (55%) to pellitory. only 4 (10%) patients had symptoms during all 3 seasonal periods. six patients (3%) were cosensitized to both polcalcin and profilin. conclusions: the clinical relevance of hypersensitivity to pollen panallergens is often limited; many allergic patients have symptoms only during the central period,suggesting primary grass sensitization. profilin-allergic patients often do not corecognize pellitory and cypress pollen. in vivo component-resolved diagnosis of seasonal respiratory allergies is a promising approach that might lead to cost reduction and a faster definition of pollen-allergic cases. © 2010 esmon publicidad.