Clinical characteristics and diagnostic value of specific immunoglobulin E antibodies in children with kiwi fruit allergy

Jeong-Min Lee; Se-Ah Jeon; Soo-Young Lee

doi:10.4168/aard.2013.1.1.73

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Lee, Jeon, and Lee: Clinical characteristics and diagnostic value of specific immunoglobulin E antibodies in children with kiwi fruit allergy

Original Article

Allergy, Asthma & Respiratory Disease

Allergy, Asthma & Respiratory Disease 2013; 1(1): 73-78.

Published online: 31 March 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4168/aard.2013.1.1.73

Clinical characteristics and diagnostic value of specific immunoglobulin E antibodies in children with kiwi fruit allergy

Jeong-Min Lee, Se-Ah Jeon, Soo-Young Lee

Department of Pediatrics, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.

Correspondence to: Soo-Young Lee. Department of Pediatrics, Ajou University School of Medicine, 206 Worldcup-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon 443-721, Korea. Tel: +82-31-219-5164, Fax: +82-31-219-5169, jsjs@ajou.ac.kr

Received 31 December 2012 Revised 26 February 2013 Accepted 26 February 2013

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/).

Abstract

Purpose

Kiwi fruit allergy in children has scarcely been reported. This study focused on the clinical characteristics of kiwi fruit allergy and value of kiwi specific Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies in Korean children.

Methods

The study was based on a data analysis of 18 patients, who were diagnosed with clinical kiwi fruit allergy at Ajou University Hospital from June 2005 to June 2012. Clinical details were collected by medical history and telephone survey. Sera from all children were analyzed for kiwi specific IgE (ImmunoCAP) and patients with negative result were further evaluated by an enzyme linked immunosorbentassay test (ELISA) using our own made kiwi fruit extracts.

Results

The subjects were 10 male and 8 female with a median aged 25 months. Twelve out of 18 (66.7%) were diagnosed with angioedema or urticaria, 4 (22.2%) were diagnosed with oral allergy syndrome, 1 was presented with dyspnea, and 1 was diagnosed with anaphylaxis. Oral route of exposure (88.9%) was most common and majority of patients (88.9%) experienced clinical symptoms at the first exposure to kiwi fruit. Six out of 12 patients with urticaria showed negative result in specific IgE by ImmunoCAP, but specific IgE were detected in 2 of 6 by ELISA with our own made kiwi extract.

Conclusion

Systemic reactions to kiwi fruit were common in Korean children, and the symptoms were frequently developed at the first time of exposure. Additional diagnostic methods would be needed for evaluation of IgE sensitization in kiwi allergic patients with negative result by ImmunoCAP.

Keywords: Kiwi allergy, Children, Specific IgE level

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1

Specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) binding to gold/green kiwi fruit according to enzyme linked immunosorbentassay test using sera from six patients (•) without IgE antibodies to kiwi fruit by ImmunoCAP and healthy controls (▵). Positive controls (▫, cases 2, 6, 7) are patients with IgE antibodies to kiwi fruit by ImmunoCAP. Cut off value=2.63 (mean+standard deviation [SD] of optical density [O.D.] of healthy controls, dotted line).

Table 1

Clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of children with kiwi fruit allergy

Kiwi-IgE, kiwi specific immunoglobulin E; AD, atopic dermatitis; AR, allergic rhinitis; OAS, oral allergy syndrome; AC, allergic conjunctivitis.

Table 2

The demographics of subjects according to the positivity of kiwi specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) measured by ImmunoCAP

Values are presented as mean±standard deviation.

t-test for age and log₁₀ total IgE, Pearson's chi-square test for sex.

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