Nils Eriksson - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Nils Eriksson
J Allerg Clin Immunol, 1996
Rhinology, 2005
We have earlier described a group of patients suffering from rhino-conjunctivitis during the earl... more We have earlier described a group of patients suffering from rhino-conjunctivitis during the early pollen season, but with negative allergological investigation. The present study aimed to evaluate this syndrome called Seasonal Non-Allergic Rhinitis (SNAR). Seventeen patients with SNAR were compared with 20 patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) and 13 patients with persistent non-allergic rhinitis (PNAR). They were analyzed with skin prick tests (SPT) and nasal provocation tests (NPT) with pollen extracts, and for IgE antibodies in serum and inflammation mediators in nasal lavage. Daily symptoms and medicine consumption were recorded. Late reactions after SPT occurred in two SNAR, eight SAR and two PNAR patients. Weak immediate and late reactions after NPT were induced in 3/15 and 7/15 SNAR patients, respectively, and in 1/13 and 5/13 PNAR patients. All SAR patients had immediate and 9/18 had late reactions. The total IgE levels were lower in SNAR compared to SAR. In the SN...
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1996
International Archives of Allergy and Immunology, 1975
The degree and strength of the binding of radioactively labelled allergen by antibodies in the se... more The degree and strength of the binding of radioactively labelled allergen by antibodies in the sera of birch pollen-sensitive individuals was studied during the course of hyposensitization with alun-precipitated aqueous-pyridine extracted birch pollen antigens using the ammonium-sulphate precipitation technique originally described by FARR. The allergen binding was measured before and after absorption of the sera with anti-human IgE antibodies conjugated to Sepharose. It was noted that IgE antibodies of low avidity caused clinical sensitivity as well as IgE antibodies of higher avidity. The nasal sensitivity to birch pollen allergen of six of the seven patients studied significantly decreased by the treatment without any quite uniform change of serum-binding capacity for the allergen. Thus the clinical improvement was accompanied either by disappearance of the specific IgE antibodies, concomitant with formation of antigen-binding non-IgE antibodies, or by increased formation of IgE antibodies with very slight contribution by non-IgE antibodies to the totally increased antigen-binding efficiency. It is felt that the serological antibody changes may not reflect the most relevant immunological events during successful hyposensitization therapy.
International Archives of Allergy and Immunology, 1976
With the assumption that a provocation test gives the correct diagnosis, the possibility of predi... more With the assumption that a provocation test gives the correct diagnosis, the possibility of predicting an allergy by means of the case history, a skin test, radioallergosorbent test (RAST) and combinations of these methods was evaluated for house dust, cow-, cat-, dog-, and horse-dander, timothy-, marguerite-, dandelion- and birch-pollen allergens. All procedures were found to give a reliable diagnosis provided that a group with doubtfoul group, requiring further diagnostic investigations, was smallest when all three methods were used in combination. It is suggested that, in addition to the case history, the first procedure in routine diagnosis with inhalant allergens should be a skin test. RAST should be used primarily for selected cases and as a complement to the case history and skin test, making provocation tests superfluous for the majority of patients.
Clinical <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&"/> Experimental Allergy, 1989
A procedure for the preparation of chloramine-T (CT) conjugates used to assay IgE antibodies was ... more A procedure for the preparation of chloramine-T (CT) conjugates used to assay IgE antibodies was developed using response surface methodology and serum from a subject occupationally exposed to the substance. The conjugates, synthesized by reacting CT with human serum albumin (HSA) and other protein carriers, were used as antigens in a radio-allergosorbent test (RAST). Human serum albumin was found lo be a suitable carrier, although other protein carriers also gave specific IgE-binding of a similar extent. The CT-HSA conjugates used in the RAST were characterized by high performance liquid chromatography, electrophoresis, immunodiflusion and ammonium sulphate precipitation. However, no strong correlation was seen between the ability of the conjugates to bind IgE and their physical or immuno-chemical properties. The hapten and carrier specificity of CT-induced IgE antibodies in the subject's serum were studied by direct RAST and RAST inhibition. No existence of new antigenic determinants related to the carrier could be demonstrated. Although HSA as a carrier was altered immunochemicaily by CT, the IgE antibodies were found to be specific to haplen only. Chloramine-T-specific IgG antibodies could not be demonstrated in the subjeet's serum.
Clinical <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&"/> Experimental Allergy, 1987
A method for biological equilibration (BE) of allergen reference preparations using the skin-pric... more A method for biological equilibration (BE) of allergen reference preparations using the skin-prick test (SPT) method and histamine HCl 10 mg/ml as reference substance (reference method), was evaluated. The precision was low for weals less than 10 mm2. The slope (log weal area/log concentration) of allergen and histamine did not vary significantly between investigators and allergens. The median slopes were 0.39 (n = 384) and 0.34 (n = 397), for allergen and histamine, respectively (P less than 0.01). The concentration of allergen eliciting a weal of the same size as that of histamine HCl 1 mg/ml (Chl) in the median sensitive patient, 1000 Biological Units/ml (BU/ml), did not vary significantly between clinics/geographical regions (grasses, mites and moulds). As BE is repeatable between regions, BUs estimated by this method are generally valid. A high correlation (r = 0.91, P less than 0.001) was found between the median Chl as estimated with histamine 1 and 10 mg/ml as reference substance, respectively. Thus, this reference method for BE is valid. The precision of the SPT method with histamine HCl 1 mg/ml is not as good as with 10 mg/ml, which is therefore recommended as the reference concentration.
Clinical <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&"/> Experimental Allergy, 1974
In sixty-five patients with asthma or allergic rhinitis, intracutaneous tests and provocation tes... more In sixty-five patients with asthma or allergic rhinitis, intracutaneous tests and provocation tests were performed with birch pollen, timothy pollen and/or dog epithelium allergen. The clinical diagnosis was compared with RAST results obtained with identical allergen preparations for in vivo as well as in vitro testing in two different laboratories. An overall correlation between in vitro and in vivo diagnosis was found in 85% of the cases. It is suggested that a scoring system using the sum of case history score and RAST values could be used for screening allergic patients with different allergens, making in vivo tests necessary only in a limited number of the cases.
Allergy, 1987
The aim of biological standardization (BS) is to equilibrate the activity (potency) of allergen e... more The aim of biological standardization (BS) is to equilibrate the activity (potency) of allergen extracts from different source materials. This was done by performing skin prick tests (SPT) on patients who were sensitive to one of the following 10 allergens: Birch, alder, hazel, timothy, rye grass, velvet grass, cultivated rye, mugwort, D. farinae and Cladosporium herbarum. Patient sensitivity varied within a range of three to four powers of ten for each allergen investigated. The weal size in each patient corresponding to that elicited by histamine 1 mg/ml was calculated using the model log (mean weal diameter) = a + b log (concentration). The correlation coefficients of the regression lines of the allergen dose response relationship were found to be greater than 0.85 in most cases. The median slope for all extracts was 0.24. The slope for Cladosporium was significantly steeper than that for pollens. The amount of material in microgram dry weight (d.w./ml) equal to 1000 biological units/ml (BU/ml) varied within a factor of three between species for all tested purified allergen preparations but Cladosporium. For Cladosporium, about 30 times more material was needed than for D. farinae. When using crude rather than purified material, it was necessary to use five to ten times more to elicit a reaction corresponding to 1000 BU/ml, but the difference was significant only for Cladosporium. The narrow range of allergen concentrations used by us as well as other investigators does not assure positive skin prick test results in all patients with clinical symptoms due to the allergen in question. Skin prick testing should therefore be done over a wide range of concentrations to improve the methods for BS.
Allergy, 1987
The biological activity of a partly purified, biochemically/immunochemically characterized mugwor... more The biological activity of a partly purified, biochemically/immunochemically characterized mugwort pollen allergen preparation and crude pollen extracts of mugwort, goosefoot and English plantain was determined by means of skin prick test (SPT). The patient inclusion criteria with mugwort were a well-defined positive clinical history and a positive SPT. Symptoms related to goosefoot/English plantain pollens are difficult to define, as these weeds flower during the grass pollen season. Thus patients tested with these allergens did not fulfill the most important inclusion criterion for so-called biological standardization. To elicit a wheal of the same size as that produced by histamine 1 mg/ml required 100 to 10,000 times more material from these weeds, than from mugwort and other pollen allergen extracts investigated earlier. One thousand Biological Units/ml (BU/ml) corresponded to 8.3 micrograms dry weight (dw/ml) of the crude and 1.8 micrograms dw/ml of the purified mugwort pollen allergen preparation. Only 7/22 goosefoot-and English plantain-tested patients were positive at conjunctival or nasal challenge. All three weeds showed a similar composition with 5-10 allergens by CIE/CRIE analysis and 10-13 by immunoblotting analysis. One dominating allergen (approx. 15,000 d), could be identified for each weed species by protein gel blot after separation by SDS g-PAGE. There was no other explanation for the difference in biological activity than the criteria of selection. If there is no obvious clinical history, which is the main patient inclusion criterion in biological standardization, then additional criteria should be used.
Allergy, 1989
In 2,368 consecutive adult patients with asthma and/or rhinitis the incidence of positive skin pr... more In 2,368 consecutive adult patients with asthma and/or rhinitis the incidence of positive skin prick test (SPT) with a chironomid extract (CHIR) (produced from &amp;quot;red feather mosquito larvae&amp;quot; used as fish food) was 14% (26% in atopics and 4% in non-atopics). RAST with chironomid was positive in 4% of 110 consecutive sera (8% in atopic sera). Significant correlations were found between RAST and SPT results with chironomid and between SPT results with CHIR and with various crustaceans. Correlations were also found reciprocally among SPT results with different crustaceans and between some crustaceans and moluscs (clam and oyster) as well as among RAST results with chironomid, shrimp and crab. Inhibition experiments showed that chironomid extracts inhibited RAST with shrimp, and vice versa. It is concluded that Chironomidae might be allergens of clinical importance in asthma and rhinitis in Sweden, that cross-allergy exists between chironomids and shrimp and that cross-allergy also might occur among chironomids, crustaceans and molluscs.
Allergology International, 1998
Allergology International, 2003
Allergy, 1979
... No, of patients with allerg)' to I'arious tree-pollens Birch Alder Haiei Beech Bog-... more ... No, of patients with allerg)' to I'arious tree-pollens Birch Alder Haiei Beech Bog-myrtle Oak Aspen Sallow Poplar Linden Elm Maple Other pollen allergies Grasses Compositae Padent group BAH ("Birch-Alder-Kazel") birch, alder, hazel 1500 (40-4000) PNU 17 8/9 25(15-46) ...
J Allerg Clin Immunol, 1996
Rhinology, 2005
We have earlier described a group of patients suffering from rhino-conjunctivitis during the earl... more We have earlier described a group of patients suffering from rhino-conjunctivitis during the early pollen season, but with negative allergological investigation. The present study aimed to evaluate this syndrome called Seasonal Non-Allergic Rhinitis (SNAR). Seventeen patients with SNAR were compared with 20 patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) and 13 patients with persistent non-allergic rhinitis (PNAR). They were analyzed with skin prick tests (SPT) and nasal provocation tests (NPT) with pollen extracts, and for IgE antibodies in serum and inflammation mediators in nasal lavage. Daily symptoms and medicine consumption were recorded. Late reactions after SPT occurred in two SNAR, eight SAR and two PNAR patients. Weak immediate and late reactions after NPT were induced in 3/15 and 7/15 SNAR patients, respectively, and in 1/13 and 5/13 PNAR patients. All SAR patients had immediate and 9/18 had late reactions. The total IgE levels were lower in SNAR compared to SAR. In the SN...
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1996
International Archives of Allergy and Immunology, 1975
The degree and strength of the binding of radioactively labelled allergen by antibodies in the se... more The degree and strength of the binding of radioactively labelled allergen by antibodies in the sera of birch pollen-sensitive individuals was studied during the course of hyposensitization with alun-precipitated aqueous-pyridine extracted birch pollen antigens using the ammonium-sulphate precipitation technique originally described by FARR. The allergen binding was measured before and after absorption of the sera with anti-human IgE antibodies conjugated to Sepharose. It was noted that IgE antibodies of low avidity caused clinical sensitivity as well as IgE antibodies of higher avidity. The nasal sensitivity to birch pollen allergen of six of the seven patients studied significantly decreased by the treatment without any quite uniform change of serum-binding capacity for the allergen. Thus the clinical improvement was accompanied either by disappearance of the specific IgE antibodies, concomitant with formation of antigen-binding non-IgE antibodies, or by increased formation of IgE antibodies with very slight contribution by non-IgE antibodies to the totally increased antigen-binding efficiency. It is felt that the serological antibody changes may not reflect the most relevant immunological events during successful hyposensitization therapy.
International Archives of Allergy and Immunology, 1976
With the assumption that a provocation test gives the correct diagnosis, the possibility of predi... more With the assumption that a provocation test gives the correct diagnosis, the possibility of predicting an allergy by means of the case history, a skin test, radioallergosorbent test (RAST) and combinations of these methods was evaluated for house dust, cow-, cat-, dog-, and horse-dander, timothy-, marguerite-, dandelion- and birch-pollen allergens. All procedures were found to give a reliable diagnosis provided that a group with doubtfoul group, requiring further diagnostic investigations, was smallest when all three methods were used in combination. It is suggested that, in addition to the case history, the first procedure in routine diagnosis with inhalant allergens should be a skin test. RAST should be used primarily for selected cases and as a complement to the case history and skin test, making provocation tests superfluous for the majority of patients.
Clinical <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&"/> Experimental Allergy, 1989
A procedure for the preparation of chloramine-T (CT) conjugates used to assay IgE antibodies was ... more A procedure for the preparation of chloramine-T (CT) conjugates used to assay IgE antibodies was developed using response surface methodology and serum from a subject occupationally exposed to the substance. The conjugates, synthesized by reacting CT with human serum albumin (HSA) and other protein carriers, were used as antigens in a radio-allergosorbent test (RAST). Human serum albumin was found lo be a suitable carrier, although other protein carriers also gave specific IgE-binding of a similar extent. The CT-HSA conjugates used in the RAST were characterized by high performance liquid chromatography, electrophoresis, immunodiflusion and ammonium sulphate precipitation. However, no strong correlation was seen between the ability of the conjugates to bind IgE and their physical or immuno-chemical properties. The hapten and carrier specificity of CT-induced IgE antibodies in the subject's serum were studied by direct RAST and RAST inhibition. No existence of new antigenic determinants related to the carrier could be demonstrated. Although HSA as a carrier was altered immunochemicaily by CT, the IgE antibodies were found to be specific to haplen only. Chloramine-T-specific IgG antibodies could not be demonstrated in the subjeet's serum.
Clinical <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&"/> Experimental Allergy, 1987
A method for biological equilibration (BE) of allergen reference preparations using the skin-pric... more A method for biological equilibration (BE) of allergen reference preparations using the skin-prick test (SPT) method and histamine HCl 10 mg/ml as reference substance (reference method), was evaluated. The precision was low for weals less than 10 mm2. The slope (log weal area/log concentration) of allergen and histamine did not vary significantly between investigators and allergens. The median slopes were 0.39 (n = 384) and 0.34 (n = 397), for allergen and histamine, respectively (P less than 0.01). The concentration of allergen eliciting a weal of the same size as that of histamine HCl 1 mg/ml (Chl) in the median sensitive patient, 1000 Biological Units/ml (BU/ml), did not vary significantly between clinics/geographical regions (grasses, mites and moulds). As BE is repeatable between regions, BUs estimated by this method are generally valid. A high correlation (r = 0.91, P less than 0.001) was found between the median Chl as estimated with histamine 1 and 10 mg/ml as reference substance, respectively. Thus, this reference method for BE is valid. The precision of the SPT method with histamine HCl 1 mg/ml is not as good as with 10 mg/ml, which is therefore recommended as the reference concentration.
Clinical <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&"/> Experimental Allergy, 1974
In sixty-five patients with asthma or allergic rhinitis, intracutaneous tests and provocation tes... more In sixty-five patients with asthma or allergic rhinitis, intracutaneous tests and provocation tests were performed with birch pollen, timothy pollen and/or dog epithelium allergen. The clinical diagnosis was compared with RAST results obtained with identical allergen preparations for in vivo as well as in vitro testing in two different laboratories. An overall correlation between in vitro and in vivo diagnosis was found in 85% of the cases. It is suggested that a scoring system using the sum of case history score and RAST values could be used for screening allergic patients with different allergens, making in vivo tests necessary only in a limited number of the cases.
Allergy, 1987
The aim of biological standardization (BS) is to equilibrate the activity (potency) of allergen e... more The aim of biological standardization (BS) is to equilibrate the activity (potency) of allergen extracts from different source materials. This was done by performing skin prick tests (SPT) on patients who were sensitive to one of the following 10 allergens: Birch, alder, hazel, timothy, rye grass, velvet grass, cultivated rye, mugwort, D. farinae and Cladosporium herbarum. Patient sensitivity varied within a range of three to four powers of ten for each allergen investigated. The weal size in each patient corresponding to that elicited by histamine 1 mg/ml was calculated using the model log (mean weal diameter) = a + b log (concentration). The correlation coefficients of the regression lines of the allergen dose response relationship were found to be greater than 0.85 in most cases. The median slope for all extracts was 0.24. The slope for Cladosporium was significantly steeper than that for pollens. The amount of material in microgram dry weight (d.w./ml) equal to 1000 biological units/ml (BU/ml) varied within a factor of three between species for all tested purified allergen preparations but Cladosporium. For Cladosporium, about 30 times more material was needed than for D. farinae. When using crude rather than purified material, it was necessary to use five to ten times more to elicit a reaction corresponding to 1000 BU/ml, but the difference was significant only for Cladosporium. The narrow range of allergen concentrations used by us as well as other investigators does not assure positive skin prick test results in all patients with clinical symptoms due to the allergen in question. Skin prick testing should therefore be done over a wide range of concentrations to improve the methods for BS.
Allergy, 1987
The biological activity of a partly purified, biochemically/immunochemically characterized mugwor... more The biological activity of a partly purified, biochemically/immunochemically characterized mugwort pollen allergen preparation and crude pollen extracts of mugwort, goosefoot and English plantain was determined by means of skin prick test (SPT). The patient inclusion criteria with mugwort were a well-defined positive clinical history and a positive SPT. Symptoms related to goosefoot/English plantain pollens are difficult to define, as these weeds flower during the grass pollen season. Thus patients tested with these allergens did not fulfill the most important inclusion criterion for so-called biological standardization. To elicit a wheal of the same size as that produced by histamine 1 mg/ml required 100 to 10,000 times more material from these weeds, than from mugwort and other pollen allergen extracts investigated earlier. One thousand Biological Units/ml (BU/ml) corresponded to 8.3 micrograms dry weight (dw/ml) of the crude and 1.8 micrograms dw/ml of the purified mugwort pollen allergen preparation. Only 7/22 goosefoot-and English plantain-tested patients were positive at conjunctival or nasal challenge. All three weeds showed a similar composition with 5-10 allergens by CIE/CRIE analysis and 10-13 by immunoblotting analysis. One dominating allergen (approx. 15,000 d), could be identified for each weed species by protein gel blot after separation by SDS g-PAGE. There was no other explanation for the difference in biological activity than the criteria of selection. If there is no obvious clinical history, which is the main patient inclusion criterion in biological standardization, then additional criteria should be used.
Allergy, 1989
In 2,368 consecutive adult patients with asthma and/or rhinitis the incidence of positive skin pr... more In 2,368 consecutive adult patients with asthma and/or rhinitis the incidence of positive skin prick test (SPT) with a chironomid extract (CHIR) (produced from &amp;quot;red feather mosquito larvae&amp;quot; used as fish food) was 14% (26% in atopics and 4% in non-atopics). RAST with chironomid was positive in 4% of 110 consecutive sera (8% in atopic sera). Significant correlations were found between RAST and SPT results with chironomid and between SPT results with CHIR and with various crustaceans. Correlations were also found reciprocally among SPT results with different crustaceans and between some crustaceans and moluscs (clam and oyster) as well as among RAST results with chironomid, shrimp and crab. Inhibition experiments showed that chironomid extracts inhibited RAST with shrimp, and vice versa. It is concluded that Chironomidae might be allergens of clinical importance in asthma and rhinitis in Sweden, that cross-allergy exists between chironomids and shrimp and that cross-allergy also might occur among chironomids, crustaceans and molluscs.
Allergology International, 1998
Allergology International, 2003
Allergy, 1979
... No, of patients with allerg)' to I'arious tree-pollens Birch Alder Haiei Beech Bog-... more ... No, of patients with allerg)' to I'arious tree-pollens Birch Alder Haiei Beech Bog-myrtle Oak Aspen Sallow Poplar Linden Elm Maple Other pollen allergies Grasses Compositae Padent group BAH ("Birch-Alder-Kazel") birch, alder, hazel 1500 (40-4000) PNU 17 8/9 25(15-46) ...