engleski

Clinical relevance of CAST assay in detection of food additive allergy

Background:Many substances including food additives, are added to foods to keep them fresh or to enhance their colour, flavour, texture and also for antimicrobial protection. Certain food additives are known to induce some episodes of urticaria with or without angioedema, dermatitis, rhinitis or asthma. The diagnosis of such hypersensitivity is often very difficult and mechanisms by which food additives affect the immune system are only partly understood. As non-immunological reactions, they are not- IgE mediated and are based on direct activation of mast cells, basophils and others. Cellular antigen stimulation test (CAST) has been adapted for measuring non-IgE mediated sensitivity by sulfidoleukotriene release after in vitro stimulation of leukocytes with specific antigens. For this reason the aim of the present study was to determine whether CAST assay may be a useful diagnostic method in detection allergy to food additives. Patients: The study group comprised 94 patients (30 male and 64 female) with positive history of hypersensitivity reactions to food additives : sodium salycilate, sodium benzoate, potassium metabisulfite and tartrazine. The clinical reactions were urticaria and /or angioedema (55 patients), atopic dermatitis (25 patients) and medicamentous exantema (14 patients). Result: Our results indicate that 17% (15/86) of patients had positive CAST test to sodium salycilate, 59% (54/92) of patients to potassium metabisulfite, 42% (39/92) of patients to sodium benzoate and 43% (37/86) of patients to tartrazine. Conclusion: Our results suggest that measurment of sulfidoleukotriene production in vitro by CAST test may be of value in the diagnosis of hypersensitivity reactions to food additives.

allergy; food additive; CAST assay

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