IgE to cyclophilins in pollen-allergic children: Epidemiologic, clinical, and diagnostic relevance of a neglected panallergen.

Background: Cyclophilins are ubiquitous panallergens whose epidemiologic, diagnostic, and clinical relevance is largely unknown and whose sensitization is rarely examined in routine allergy practice.

Objective: We investigated the epidemiologic, diagnostic, and clinical relevance of cyclophilins in seasonal allergic rhinitis and its comorbidities.

Methods: We examined a random sample of 253 (25%) of 1263 Italian children with seasonal allergic rhinitis from the Panallergens in Pediatrics (PAN-PED) cohort with characterized disease phenotypes.

IgE to cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants (CCD) in childhood: Prevalence, risk factors, putative origins.

Background: IgE antibodies to cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants (CCD) are usually clinically irrelevant but they can be a cause of false positive outcomes of allergen-specific IgE tests in vitro. Their prevalence and levels have been so far cross-sectionally examined among adult allergic patients and much less is known about their origins and relevance in childhood.

Methods: We examined CCD with a cross-sectional approach in 1263 Italian pollen allergic children (Panallergen in Paediatrics, PAN-PED), as well as with a longitudinal approach in 612 German children (Multicenter Allergy Study, MAS), whose cutaneous and IgE sensitization profile to a broad panel of allergen extracts and molecules was already known.

Heterogeneity of pollen food allergy syndrome in seven Southern European countries: The @IT.2020 multicenter study.

Background: Pollen food allergy syndrome (PFAS) is a frequently underdiagnosed disease due to diverse triggers, clinical presentations, and test results. This is especially relevant in geographic areas with a broad spectrum of pollen sensitization, such as Southern Europe.

Objectives: To elucidate similarities and differences of PFAS in nine Southern European centers and identify associated characteristics and unique markers of PFAS.

"Whole" vs. "fragmented" approach to EAACI pollen season definitions: A multicenter study in six Southern European cities.

Background: The adequate definition of pollen seasons is essential to facilitate a correct diagnosis, treatment choice, and outcome assessment in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis. A position paper by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) proposed season definitions for Northern and Middle Europe.

Objective: To test the pollen season definitions proposed by EAACI in six Mediterranean cities for seven pollen taxa.

IgE antibody repertoire in nasal secretions of children and adults with seasonal allergic rhinitis: A molecular analysis.

Background: There is growing interest both in testing IgE in nasal secretions (NS) and in molecular diagnosis of seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR). Yet, the reliability of nasal IgE detection with the newest molecular assays has never been assessed in a large cohort of pollen allergic patients.

Objective: To investigate with microarray technology and compare the repertoires of specific IgE (sIgE) antibodies in NS and sera of a large population of children and adults with SAR.

Early molecular biomarkers predicting the evolution of allergic rhinitis and its comorbidities: A longitudinal multicenter study of a patient cohort.

Background: Pollen-related seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (SAR) is a very frequent pediatric disease in Westernized countries. Risk factors and disease phenotypes have been thoroughly examined in several cross-sectional studies. By contrast, only a few studies have examined disease evolution in patient cohorts.

Steroid-Eluting Ethmoidal Stent Versus Antero-Posterior Ethmoidectomy: Comparison Of Efficacy And Safety In Allergic Patients.

Background: Allergic and chronic rhinosinusitis is a disabling pathological condition with an 8% prevalence in the European population and 5% in the Italian one. The ethmoidal sinus is the first one involved in the inflammation. The typical surgical procedure to manage ethmoidal sinusitis is an endoscopic antero-posterior ethmoidectomy.

Asthma Control Test and Bronchial Challenge with Exercise in Pediatric Asthma.

Background: Poor asthma control can lead to exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB), but the relationship between subjective disease control and EIB is unclear. No studies have compared asthma control test (ACT) scores of children with those of their parents regarding EIB. We assessed whether ACT scores predict the occurrence of EIB in two age groups.

Prevalence and Clinical Relevance of IgE Sensitization to Profilin in Childhood: A Multicenter Study.

Background: Little is known about the prevalence and clinical relevance of hypersensitivity to the plant panallergen profilin in children.

Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate prevalence, risk factors and clinical relevance of profilin sensitization in a large cohort of Italian children of different ages living in different geographic areas.

Methods: Children with pollen allergy enrolled by 16 pediatric outpatient clinics sited in three main geographic areas of Italy were studied.

The effect of component-resolved diagnosis on specific immunotherapy prescription in children with hay fever.

Background: Sensitization to profilins and other cross-reacting molecules might hinder proper specific immunotherapy (SIT) prescription in polysensitized patients with pollen-related allergic rhinitis (AR). In these patients, component-resolved diagnosis (CRD) might modify SIT prescription by improving the identification of the disease-eliciting pollen sources.

Objectives: We sought to measure the effect of CRD on SIT prescription in children with pollen-related AR.

Turbinoplasty with quantic molecular resonance in the treatment of persistent moderate-severe allergic rhinitis: Comparative analysis of efficacy.

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) presents as the main and most invasive symptom in the blocking of the nose. This condition is almost always related to hypertrophy of the inferior turbinates. When the medical treatments are found to be insufficient to solve the obstructive symptom of the patient, the quality of life is considerably impaired and it is often necessary to submit the patient to a surgical approach.

Pollen-induced allergic rhinitis in 1360 Italian children: comorbidities and determinants of severity.

Background: Pollen-induced allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (AR) is highly prevalent and rapidly evolving during childhood. General practitioners may not be fully aware of the nature and severity of symptoms experienced by patients and might underestimate the prevalence of moderate or severe disease. Thus, the relevance of early diagnosis and intervention may be overlooked.

Molecular profiles of IgE to Phleum pratense in children with grass pollen allergy: implications for specific immunotherapy.

Background: The so-called component-resolved immunotherapy of allergies proposes an immunization tailored to the molecular sensitization profiles of individual patients.

Objectives: We sought (1) to investigate the profiles of IgE sensitization to Phleum pratense in children with grass pollen allergy and (2) to define the compatibility of these profiles with a mixture of recombinant allergenic molecules of P pratense previously proposed for specific immunotherapy.

Methods: We examined 200 children (age, 4-18 years; 126 boys) with allergic rhinitis, asthma, or both ascertained through validated questionnaires.

Preventive effects of sublingual immunotherapy in childhood: an open randomized controlled study.

Background: Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) has been proved to be effective in allergic rhinitis and asthma, but there are few data on its preventive effects, especially in children.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and preventive effects of SLIT in children by assessing onset of persistent asthma and new sensitizations, clinical symptoms, and bronchial hyperreactivity.

Methods: A total of 216 children with allergic rhinitis, with or without intermittent asthma, were evaluated and then randomized to receive drugs alone or drugs plus SLIT openly for 3 years.