Airpalynology Research Implications in Allergic Diseases

Transcription

1 Annals of West University of Timişoara, ser. Biology, vol. III-IV, , pp Airpalynology Research Implications in Allergic Diseases FAUR A.¹, IANOVICI NICOLETA¹, NECHIFOR CLAUDIA² ¹ West University, Department of Biology - Timişoara ² "N. Kretzulescu" Policlinic - Bucharest ABSTRACT (online version) There is a constant increase of the number of mediate Ig E diseases worldwide, known as reagin or atopic diseases. The inflammable substratum, which stands as their basis, is decoded at the cellular and the molecular level, guiding the pharmaceutical research towards finding the most efficient treatments. In recent years, there is also a remarkable evolution of the diagnosis methods. Modern methods of knowing the impact of environment factors, including allergens, hasten to the allergenicity, and the sick people s assistance. One of these methods, extremely valuable in the medical practice, is the volumetric method of sampling, identifying and quantifying the airborne pollen, which belongs to the category of inhaling allergens and which brings about the pollinosis. Airborne pollen dynamics, as yearly pollination calendars, brings precious information in choosing the diagnosis and treatment methods of polinosis, diminishing their costs and being able to impose a new prophylactic conduct. The pollination calendar can draw allergologists` attention to some plants producing allergen pollen, less known plants, adventives or expanding, as Ambrosia artemisiifolia species, common to the South - West area of Romania. The pollination calendar can also be useful to extracts and allergenic vaccines producers, directing their production according to the local presence of some species of plants with allergen pollen. KEY WORDS: allergens, rhinallergosis, airborne pollen, airpalynology, pollination calendar, Ambrosia artemisiifolia INTRODUCTION Airpalynologists and allergologists cooperation can bring great benefits to the medical practice. The correlation of the modern strategies of preventing and treating pollen allergy. Pollen allergy has a precocious start and it lasts for the rest of the person s life, that is why its prophylaxis is more useful than the treatment of its complications and aggravation. The allergens are antigens that produce and express an Ig E mediate immunoreactivity. There are four types of allergens to be noticed: inhalant (pneumoallergens), food (food allergens, trophallergens), allergodermia and injected ones. They initiate the sensibilisation processes and the dual allergic reaction (Radu, 1998; Popescu, 1998). In vivo diagnosis in Ig E mediate allergy requires: - prick tests, intradermic and skin biopsy (the window test);

2 Faur A., Ianovici Nicoleta, Nechifor Claudia: Airpalinology Research Implications In Allergic Diseases - tests of provoking the hyperactivity of the organ: nasal, ocular, bronchi, of food origin and with a living insect; In vitro diagnosis in Ig E mediate allergy uses techniques and methods that prove the presence of specific antibodies, mediate and cytokins, released as a result of the specific cell activation: - total serum Ig E, by radio immunologic methods (RIST, PRIST) and radio enzymatic (ELISA); - specific Ig E, based on the immunoabsorbtion principle (RAST, FAST, CAP system, Magic lite); - the dosage of the Ig G specific precipitator antibodies (the Ouchterlony method). An important aspect in the therapeutic approach of the inflammation and of the allergic diseases also includes the reestablishment of desensibilisation (also called specific hiposensibilisation, specific immunotherapy with allergens or specific immunotherapy with allergic vaccines ITS) in the therapeutic scheme. All these investigations are extremely expensive. Since the rhinallergosis is more and more frequent, the diagnosis and the treatment can be more precisely directed by means of the information given by the pollination calendar drawn by airpalynologists. MATERIALS AND METHODES We have drawn the pollination calendar taking into account the results of the monitorisation which took place in 1999, and for the graphics we present here we also took into consideration data from the year The pollen aspiration was made by means of a volumetric collector type VPPS 2000 Lanzoni, situated on the buildings of the University of the West of Timişoara, at a height of approximately 20 m. In order to diagnose rhinallergosis, prick tests mere used (in 270 patients), with pollen mixtures from early trees, grasses and weeds (the tests of Halcis Terapie SRL - Timişoara). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Skin tests revealed (table 1) the fact that the number of cases of rhinallergosis (complicated with asthma or not) is bigger than that of no allergic rhinitis (most of them vasomotor): 8

3 Annals of West University of Timişoara, ser. Biology, vol. III-IV, , pp TABLE 1. The cases of rhinallergosis and no allergic rhinitis in 2000 No allergic rhinitis 130 Rhinallergosis Perennial (sensitivity at acarians, moldiness, feathers and 55 animals` fur) Perennial and perennial allergic asthma 17 Seasonal (pollinosis) 33 Seasonal allergic asthma 3 Perennial with seasonal aggravation 24 Perennial with seasonal aggravation and allergic asthma 8 In order to diagnose pollen allergy, and at the same time for the initiation of INS, an evaluation of the exposure at pollination agents is necessary. ITS is indicated according to the severity and the duration of the disease evolution, as well as in patients with extended seasonal table or exposed to several pollen types, with sequential time spreading. Out of a total of 36 cases of pollinosis, prick tests reveal a higher sensitivity at grasses and weeds pollen: Grasses, weeds; 38,88% Trees; 5,55% Trees, grasses; 11,11% Trees, grasses, weeds; 22,22% Grasses; 19,44% Weeds; 2,77% FIG. 1. The results of prick tests at pollinosis in 2000 In ITS, therapeutic allergen vaccine are used, administrated subcutaneous and unconventional (oral, sublingual, nasal, bronchi). The dosage in pollen treatment is extremely important in order to obtain high results: - during pollination season the dosage is severely decreased; - the patient should be warned to avoid pollen exposure during treatment; 9

4 Faur A., Ianovici Nicoleta, Nechifor Claudia: Airpalinology Research Implications In Allergic Diseases - the proceeding of treatment during pollination season is contraindicated; - perennial treatment could be interrupted if the symptomatology is strong in pollination season. Thus, in order to make some tests in vivo or ITS, the dynamics of the airborne pollen in the area in which the patient lives should be known: the beginning of the blossom, all these being easily found in annual pollination calendars. The tolerance limit is low during the pollination season, and due to this fact airpalynologists will elaborate forecasts in future. Through massmedia, they will warn upon the possible pollen dynamics. Airpalynologic values recorded during the years 1999 and 2000 show huge differences for our geographic area concerning the incidence of the pollen of some plants with airborne allergen pollen. For instance, we notice the abundance of the pollen coming from a species which is adventives in our country s flora: the Ambrosia artemisiifolia. September is the month with the highest incidence of this pollen. The comparative study for 1999 and 2000 reveals the increasing of this type of pollen from 51.57% to 77.04% of the total pollen identified during September. This leads to the necessity of individual testing with Ambrosia pollen and the complete study of this plant, in expansion in our country (Faur et al, 2001b; Ianovici & Faur, 2001; Faur & Ianovici, 2001). CONCLUSIONS Allergens identifying and quantifying can contribute to: the orientation of specific prophylaxis measures; the evaluation of the role of the allergens in sensibilisation, in the hyperactivity of an organ; the directing of immediate and long term therapeutic plans, including specific immunotherapy with allergens vaccine. 10

5 Annals of West University of Timişoara, ser. Biology, vol. III-IV, , pp Specia Taxus Martie A prilie Mai Iu nie Iulie A ug u stseptem brieocto mbrie A lnus Ulmus P opulus S alix Fraxinus B etula Carpinus A cer Juglans Quercus P latanus Morus P inus Tilia P oaceae Rumex Urtica P lantago Chenopodiaceae A mbrosia A rtemisia FIG. 2. Pollination calendar for

6 Faur A., Ianovici Nicoleta, Nechifor Claudia: Airpalinology Research Implications In Allergic Diseases FIG. 3. Pollen quantify in September FIG. 4. Pollen quantify in September 2000 REFERENCES Băra C., - Imunologie fundamentală. Biologia răspunsului imun, Ed. Medicală, Bucureşti, 1996 Bulla A., Saragea M., Molan N., Ifrim M. Determinarea gradului de infestare cu polen a aerului atmosferic din Bucureşti şi valoarea sensibilizantă a unor alergene preparate din polen, Med. Int., 15, 9, ,

7 Annals of West University of Timişoara, ser. Biology, vol. III-IV, , pp D'Amato G, Spieksma FThM European allergenic pollen types. Aerobiologia, 8, , 1992 Faur A., Borbely Brigitte, Ianovici Nicoleta, Sinitean A. - Studies about the dynamics of allergenic pollen of anemophilous wooden plants from South-West of Romania - Proceeding of 4 rd International Symposium Regional Multidisciplinary Research (Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia), Section Biological Sciences, Agriculture and Environment November 2000-Timişoara, , 2001a Faur A., Ianovici Nicoleta, Rotundu Mihaela - Aerobiologic study on some composites allergen pollen in Timisoara - Proceeding of 4 rd International Symposium Regional Multidisciplinary Research (Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia), Section Biological Sciences, Agriculture and Environment November 2000-Timişoara, , 2001b Faur A, Ianovici Nicoleta - Dinamica polenului de Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Conferinţa Naţională de Alergologie şi Imunologie Clinică "Alergia - o problemă de sănătate publică", Târgu- Mureş, p. 8, 2001 Grant Smith E Sampling and identifying allergenic pollens and molds An Illustrated Identification Manual for Air Samplers, Blewstone Press, San Antonio, Texas, 1990 Hyde HA Atmospheric pollen and spores in relation to allergy. Clin Allergy, 2, 1972, Ianovici Nicoleta, Faur A. - Semnificaţia monitorizării calitative şi cantitative a polenului alergen aeropurtat, Simpozionul "ARMONII NATURALE", Ediţia a V-a, Arad, 80 87, 2001 Iglesias Fernandez Isabel, Jesus Aira Maria, Jato Victoria Poaceae pollen in the atmosphere of Santiago de Compostela: its relationship with meteorology, Aerobiologia, 14, 1998, Jager S EANS European Allergen Network Server. Aerobiologia, 4, 16-19, 1988 Juhasz M., Babiak J., Radisic P., Faur A., Sinitean A. - A first results of a international aeropalynological cooperation in the Danube - Cris - Mures - Tisa euroregion, Regional Conference on environment and health, Szeged, May, 2000 Juhasz M., Babiak J., Radisic P., Faur A.,Borbely Brigitte - First results of a international aeropalynological cooperation in the Danube - Cris - Mures - Tisa euroregion, Second European Symposion on Aerobiology, Sept., 2000, Wienna, Austria 13

8 Faur A., Ianovici Nicoleta, Nechifor Claudia: Airpalinology Research Implications In Allergic Diseases Juhasz M., Gallovith E. - Comparative aeropalynological study of ragweed pollution of Szeged and Pecs (Southern Hungary), Szentmihaly Press, Zalaegerszeg, 1995 Jarai-Komlodi M., Juhasz M. - Ambrosia elatior (L) in Hungary ( ), Aerobiologia, 75-78,1993 Juhász M. New results of aeropalinological research in Southern Hungary, Publ. Reg. Comm. Hung.Sci. Szeged, 5, 17-30, 1995 Kadocsa E., Bittera I., Juhasz M. - Pollenszamlalas alapjan vegzett bortesztek eredmenyei nyarvegi szezonalitasu rhinitis allergicas betegeken, 1991 Mandriolli P & Puppi G. - Pollini allergenici in Emilia Romagna, Collana studi e Documentatione no 13, bologna, Italia, 1978 Nilsson S., Spieksma F. - Allergy service guide in Europe, Palynological laboratory, Swedish Museum of Natural History, 1994 Norris-Hill J. - The modelling of daily Poaceae pollen concentrations. Grana, 34, 1995, Ogden E.C., Raymor G.S., Hayes G.V., Lewis D.M., Haines J.H. - Manual for sampling airborne pollen, H. Y. Hafner press, 1974 Popescu I.G., - Alergologie: fiziopatologie, diagnostic, tratament, Ed, ALL, Bucureşti, 1998 Radu Jeana Rodica - Alergiile reaginice. Imunoterapia specifică cu vaccinuri alergenice, Ed. Medicală Amaltea, Bucureşti, 1998 Şerbănescu - Jitariu G. - Palinologia. Istoria biologiei în date, Ed. All, 1996 Tarnavschi I., Şerbănescu-Jitariu G., Mitroiu-Rădulescu N., Rădulescu D. - Monografia polenului florei din România, Ed. Academiei RSR,