Articles

Drug induced Kounis syndrome: does oxidative stress play a role?

Kounis syndrome (KS) has been described as the coincidental occurrence of acute coronary syndromes during an allergic reaction with cardiac anaphylaxis. It is caused by inflammatory mediators released after ex...

Authors: Luisa Ricciardi, Fabiana Furci, Marco Casciaro, Eleonora Di Salvo, Mariateresa Cristani, Valeria Tigano, Paola Lucia Minciullo and Sebastiano Gangemi

Urban air pollution and climate change: “The Decalogue: Allergy Safe Tree” for allergic and respiratory diseases care

According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is closely associated with climate change and, in particular, with global warming. In addition to melting of ice and snow, rising sea level, and floodi...

Authors: Vincenzo Patella, Giovanni Florio, Diomira Magliacane, Ada Giuliano, Maria Angiola Crivellaro, Daniela Di Bartolomeo, Arturo Genovese, Mario Palmieri, Amedeo Postiglione, Erminia Ridolo, Cristina Scaletti, Maria Teresa Ventura and Anna Zollo

The involvement of osmolarity in the safety of contrast media

New non-ionic contrast agents, classified into low osmolar agents and iso-osmolar agents, present different biochemical characteristics that may influence the allergic reactions they cause. The aim of our stud...

Authors: Stefania Isola, Fabiana Furci and Sebastiano Gangemi

Tryptase as a marker of severity of aortic valve stenosis

Severe aortic valve stenosis is one of the most common cause of mortality in adult patients affected with metabolic syndrome, a condition associated with an active inflammatory process involving also mast cell...

Authors: Laura M. Losappio, Corrado Mirone, Michel Chevallard, Laura Farioli, Fabrizio De Luca and Elide A. Pastorello

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Focus on the agents most frequently responsible for perioperative anaphylaxis

Adverse reactions (ARs) to drugs administered during general anesthesia may be very severe and life-threatening, with a mortality rate ranging from 3 to 9%. The adverse reactions to drugs may be IgE and non-Ig...

Authors: E. Di Leo, P. Delle Donne, G. F. Calogiuri, L. Macchia and E. Nettis

House dust mite-related respiratory allergies and probiotics: a narrative review

The socio-economic burden of allergic respiratory conditions on continental Europe is even higher than that of mainstream diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, as allergic rhinitis alone accou...

Authors: Filippo Fassio and Fabio Guagnini

Sublingual grass allergen specific immunotherapy: a retrospective study of clinical outcome and discontinuation

Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is effective, tolerable, and convenient for many allergic patients. Still, real-world evidence is scarce and the aim of this study is to assess the patient reported outcome of t...

Authors: Christer Janson, Fredrik Sundbom, Peter Arvidsson and Mary Kämpe

Regulation of IgE activity in inhalational tolerance via formation of IgG anti-IgE/IgE immune complexes

Allergic asthma is an inflammatory disorder of the airways that results from inappropriate production of IgE against harmless, environmental antigens. Sequestration of free IgE using humanized IgG anti-IgE is ...

Authors: Sonali J. Bracken, Alexander J. Adami, Ektor Rafti, Craig M. Schramm and Adam P. Matson

Low incidence of pneumonia in COPD patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation

Based on meta-analyses results, it is currently acknowledged that there is an increased risk of pneumonia in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) undergoing inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) ...

Authors: Erminia Ridolo, Cristoforo Incorvaia, Irene Martignago, Laura Pessina, Fulvio Lauretani, Luciano Loperfido, Gian Galeazzo Riario-Sforza, Annalisa Broglia, Bruna L. Gritti and Lorenzo Panella

Involvement of miR-126 in autoimmune disorders

Micro-RNA represent a great family of small non-condign ribonucleic acid molecules; in particular microRNA-126 is an important member of this family and is expressed in many human cells such as cardiomyocytes,...

Authors: Marco Casciaro, Eleonora Di Salvo, Teresa Brizzi, Carmelo Rodolico and Sebastiano Gangemi

Hymenoptera sting reactions in southern Italy forestry workers: our experience compared to reported data

Hymenoptera sting reactions are among life-threatening causes of allergy. Several epidemiology studies have assessed the risk of these kind of reactions, among the general population, around 3% of adults. This...

Authors: Luisa Ricciardi, Francesco Papia, Giuseppe Cataldo, Mario Giorgianni, Giovanna Spatari and Sebastiano Gangemi

A case of atopic dermatitis caused by Ascaris lumbricoides infection

Parasite infections stimulate total and specific IgE production that, in the case of Toxocara canis infection, corresponds to chronic allergic symptoms. There may also be other infections which have similar sympt...

Authors: Rosanna Qualizza, Laura M Losappio and Fabiana Furci

Importance of hypersensitivity in adverse reactions to drugs in the elderly

The use of drugs in the elderly is very extensive because of the frequent occurrence of chronic diseases. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) commonly occur in geriatric patients receiving multiple therapeutic regim...

Authors: Maria Teresa Ventura, Elisa Boni, Rosa Cecere, Rosalba Buquicchio, Gian Franco Calogiuri, Irene Martignago, Cristoforo Incorvaia and Erminia Ridolo

Role of genetic variations of chitinase 3-like 1 in bronchial asthmatic patients

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in chitinase 3-like 1 (CHI3L1) are associated with bronchial severity and pulmonary function. CHI3L1 proteins are involved in both innate and adaptive immune responses; howe...

Authors: Kazuyuki Abe, Yutaka Nakamura, Kohei Yamauchi and Makoto Maemondo

Bench to bedside review of myositis autoantibodies

Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies represent a heterogeneous group of autoimmune diseases with systemic involvement. Even though numerous specific autoantibodies have been recognized, they have not been includ...

Authors: Boaz Palterer, Gianfranco Vitiello, Alessia Carraresi, Maria Grazia Giudizi, Daniele Cammelli and Paola Parronchi

A critical appraisal on AIT in childhood asthma

Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is the only disease-modifying treatment approved for allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma and represents a suitable therapeutic option, especially in childhood, to modify the prog...

Authors: Matteo Ferrando, Francesca Racca, Lorena Nascimento Girardi Madeira, Enrico Heffler, Giovanni Passalacqua, Francesca Puggioni, Niccolò Stomeo and Giorgio Walter Canonica

The control of allergic rhinitis in real life: a multicenter cross-sectional Italian study

Allergic Rhinitis (AR) is a high-prevalence disease. In Europe about 25% of the general population is affected, and in Italy the prevalence is estimated to be 19.8%. The Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Ast...

Authors: Federica Gani, Carlo Lombardi, Laura Barrocu, Massimo Landi, Erminia Ridolo, Massimo Bugiani, Giovanni Rolla, Gianenrico Senna and Giovanni Passalacqua

Allergic sensitization to common pets (cats/dogs) according to different possible modalities of exposure: an Italian Multicenter Study

The query “are there animals at home?” is usually administered for collecting information on anamnesis. This modality to consider exposure to pet allergens constitutes a potential bias in epidemiological studi...

Authors: G. Liccardi, L. Calzetta, G. Baldi, A. Berra, L. Billeri, M. Caminati, P. Capano, E. Carpentieri, A. Ciccarelli, M. A. Crivellaro, M. Cutajar, M. D’Amato, I. Folletti, F. Gani, D. Gargano, D. Giannattasio…

A 13-year real-life study on efficacy, safety and biological effects of Vespula venom immunotherapy

Hymenoptera venom immunotherapy (VIT) is a clinically effective treatment. However, little is known about its long-term clinical efficacy and biological effects. Several mechanisms have been proposed to account f...

Authors: Marcello Albanesi, Andrea Nico, Alessandro Sinisi, Lucia Giliberti, Maria Pia Rossi, Margherita Rossini, Georgios Kourtis, Anna Simona Rucco, Filomena Loconte, Loredana Muolo, Marco Zurlo, Danilo Di Bona, Maria Filomena Caiaffa and Luigi Macchia

Biological clocks: their relevance to immune-allergic diseases

The 2017 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, awarded for the discoveries made in the past 15 years on the genetic and molecular mechanisms regulating many physiological functions, has renewed the attention...

Authors: Roberto Paganelli, Claudia Petrarca and Mario Di Gioacchino

Amelioration of patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria in treatment with vitamin D supplement

Spontaneous urticaria is a common allergic skin condition affecting 0.5–1% of individuals and may burden on health care expenditure or may be associated with remarkable morbidity.

Authors: Nazila Ariaee, Shima Zarei, Mojgan Mohamadi and Farahzad Jabbari

Immunosenescence in aging: between immune cells depletion and cytokines up-regulation

The immunosenescence is a relatively recent chapter, correlated with the linear extension of the average life began in the nineteenth century and still in progress. The most important feature of immunosenescen...

Authors: Maria Teresa Ventura, Marco Casciaro, Sebastiano Gangemi and Rosalba Buquicchio

Tiotropium in asthma: back to the future of anticholinergic treatment

Asthma is among the most common chronic diseases worldwide; however, despite progresses in the understanding of the patho-physiological mechanisms and advances in the development of new therapeutic options and...

Authors: Matteo Bonini and Nicola Scichilone

Selecting optimal second-generation antihistamines for allergic rhinitis and urticaria in Asia

Allergic diseases are on the rise in many parts of the world, including the Asia–Pacific (APAC) region. Second-generation antihistamines are the first-line treatment option in the management of allergic rhinit...

Authors: Marysia Tiongco Recto, Ma. Teresita Gabriel, Kanokvalai Kulthanan, Pongsakorn Tantilipikorn, Derrick Chen-Wee Aw, Tak Hong Lee, Ch’ng Chin Chwen, Somasundran Mutusamy, Nguyen Trong Hao, Vo Thanh Quang and Giorgio Walter Canonica

High frequency of IgE sensitization towards kiwi seed storage proteins among peanut allergic individuals also reporting allergy to kiwi

IgE sensitization to storage proteins from nuts and seed is often related to severe allergic symptoms. There is a risk of immunological IgE cross-reactivity between storage proteins from different species. The...

Authors: Jenny van Odijk, Sigrid Sjölander, Peter Brostedt, Magnus P. Borres and Hillevi Englund

How to fit allergen immunotherapy in the elderly

Asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR) and atopic dermatitis are very common in young people, but in the latest decades it was increasingly recognized that also individuals of higher ages, including the population ove...

Authors: Erminia Ridolo, Anti Rogkakou, Maria Teresa Ventura, Irene Martignago, Cristoforo Incorvaia, Gabriele Di Lorenzo and Giovanni Passalacqua

Tolerated drugs in subjects with severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) induced by anticonvulsants and review of the literature

Anticonvulsant hypersensitivity syndrome represents a rare but potentially fatal kind of adverse drug reaction. This clinical picture often hampers the flexibility with which alternative anticonvulsants or eve...

Authors: Fabrizio De Luca, Laura Michelina Losappio, Corrado Mirone, Jan Walter Schroeder, Antonella Citterio, Maria Gloria Aversano, Joseph Scibilia and Elide Anna Pastorello

A survey on the perception of allergy specialists about the reimbursed grass pollen tablets for seasonal allergic rhinitis in Italy

Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is a feasible option to classical subcutaneous immunotherapy to treat respiratory allergy and is increasingly prescribed in Europe. However, the lack of reimbursement may limit ...

Authors: Ilaria Massaro, Oliviero Rossi, Cristoforo Incorvaia and Carlo Lombardi

Anticonvulsant hypersensitivity syndrome after phenytoin administration in an adolescent patient: a case report and review of literature

Hypersensitivity is a rare adverse drug reaction (ADR) associated with anti-epileptic medications. Phenytoin is one of the commonly used drugs for treatment of epilepsy that encounters a hypersensitivity react...

Authors: Malik Ghannam, Shaden Mansour, Aya Nabulsi and Qusay Abdoh

Preventive actions of allergen immunotherapy: the facts and the effects in search of evidence

Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is the only treatment that works on the causes of allergy. Available AIT nowadays are subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) and sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) for allergic rhinitis an...

Authors: Irene Martignago, Cristoforo Incorvaia and Erminia Ridolo

Association between HMGB1 and asthma: a literature review

Recently, some studies demonstrated that HMGB1, as proinflammatory mediator belonging to the alarmin family, has a key role in different acute and chronic immune disorders. Asthma is a complex disease characte...

Authors: Egidio Imbalzano, Sebastiano Quartuccio, Eleonora Di Salvo, Teresa Crea, Marco Casciaro and Sebastiano Gangemi

Asthma management among allergists in Italy: results from a survey

In Europe more than 50% of asthmatic treated patients have not well-controlled asthma. Asthma affects about 2.5 million of patients in Italy.

Authors: M. S. Magnoni, M. Caminati, G. W. Canonica, F. Arpinelli, A. Rizzi and G. Senna

The soft computing-based approach to investigate allergic diseases: a systematic review

Early recognition of inflammatory markers and their relation to asthma, adverse drug reactions, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis and other allergic diseases is an important goal in allergy. The vast majori...

Authors: Gennaro Tartarisco, Alessandro Tonacci, Paola Lucia Minciullo, Lucia Billeci, Giovanni Pioggia, Cristoforo Incorvaia and Sebastiano Gangemi

Hypersensitivity reactions due to black henna tattoos and their components: are the clinical pictures related to the immune pathomechanism?

Hypersensitivity to para-phenylenediamine (PPD) and related compounds induced by temporary black henna tattoos has become a serious health problem worldwide. Different patterns of sensitization with various cl...

Authors: Gianfranco Calogiuri, Elisabetta Di Leo, Lavjay Butani, Stefano Pizzimenti, Cristoforo Incorvaia, Luigi Macchia and Eustachio Nettis

SANI-Severe Asthma Network in Italy: a way forward to monitor severe asthma

Even if severe asthma (SA) accounts for 5–10% of all cases of the disease, it is currently a crucial unmet need, owing its difficult clinical management and its high social costs. For this reason several netwo...

Authors: G. Senna, M. Guerriero, P. L. Paggiaro, F. Blasi, M. Caminati, E. Heffler, M. Latorre and G. W. Canonica

Effects of specific allergen immunotherapy on biological markers and clinical parameters in asthmatic children: a controlled-real life study

Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) is the only treatment able to change the natural course of allergic diseases. We aimed at investigating the clinical efficacy of SLITOR (Serbian registered vaccine for sub...

Authors: I. Djuric-Filipovic, Marco Caminati, D. Filipovic, C. Salvottini and Z. Zivkovic

Pharmacoeconomics of sublingual immunotherapy with the 5-grass pollen tablets for seasonal allergic rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis has a very high burden regarding both direct and indirect costs. This makes essential in the management of AR to reduce the clinical severity of the disease and thus to lessen its costs. This...

Authors: Carlo Lombardi, Valerie Melli, Cristoforo Incorvaia and Erminia Ridolo

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis: a complex lung disease

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP), also called extrinsic allergic alveolitis, is a respiratory syndrome involving the lung parenchyma and specifically the alveoli, terminal bronchioli, and alveolar interstitiu...

Authors: Gian Galeazzo Riario Sforza and Androula Marinou

Sensitization to secretoglobin and lipocalins in a group of young children with risk of developing respiratory allergy

Multiple sensitizations in early age have been reported to be a risk for development of asthma. This study evaluates the emergence and evolution of IgE to aeroallergens among a cohort of children with physicia...

Authors: Mizuho Nagao, Magnus P. Borres, Mayumi Sugimoto, Carl Johan Petersson, Satoshi Nakayama, Yu Kuwabara, Sawako Masuda, Patrik Dykiel and Takao Fujisawa

Avoiding misdiagnosis in patients with dyspnea and wheezing: a case report illustrating the clinical implications of fixation error

Bronchial asthma is a heterogeneous respiratory condition which can be mimicked by a wide range of pathologies including upper airways stenosis. The accurate diagnosis of asthma, as with other conditions, may ...

Authors: Fabiano Di Marco, Giuseppe Francesco Sferrazza Papa, Dejan Radovanovic and Pierachille Santus

Allergic diseases in the elderly: biological characteristics and main immunological and non-immunological mechanisms

Life expectancy and the number of elderly people are progressively increasing around the world. Together with other pathologies, allergic diseases also show an increasing incidence in geriatric age. This is pa...

Authors: Maria Teresa Ventura, Nicola Scichilone, Roberto Paganelli, Paola Lucia Minciullo, Vincenzo Patella, Matteo Bonini, Giovanni Passalacqua, Carlo Lombardi, Livio Simioni, Erminia Ridolo, Stefano R. Del Giacco, Sebastiano Gangemi and Giorgio Walter Canonica

Clinical management, expectations, and satisfaction of patients with moderate to severe allergic rhinoconjunctivitis treated with SQ-standardized grass-allergen tablet under routine clinical practice conditions in Spain

Sublingual immunotherapy has been proven as a well-tolerated and effective treatment for allergic rhinitis. Within this type of treatment, GRAZAX^® is the most documented product in terms of safety and efficacy. T...

Authors: Tomás Chivato, Pedro Álvarez-Calderón, Carmen Panizo, Ricardo Abengozar, César Alías, Ali Al-Baech, José Arias-Irigoyen, M. José Caballero, Lluis Conill, Silvia de Miguel, Rafael Laguna, Joan Martínez-Benazet, Francisco Matoses, Jose Camilo Martínez-Alonso, Lourdes Mendizábal, Celsa Pérez-Carral…

Different clinical allergological features of Taenia solium infestation

The tapeworm Taenia (T.) solium can be responsible for two different conditions: taeniasis and cysticercosis. Helminth infections in human host cause an immune response associated with elevated levels of IgE, tis...

Authors: Paola Lucia Minciullo, Antonio Cascio, Stefania Isola and Sebastiano Gangemi

Eosinophilic disorders of the gastro-intestinal tract: an update

Eosinophilic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, including eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE), are rare chronic pathologies of the digestive system, with an immuno-mediat...

Authors: Erminia Ridolo, Valerie Melli, Gianluigi De’ Angelis and Irene Martignago

Chitinase 3-like-1 is produced by human Th17 cells and correlates with the level of inflammation in juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients

CHI3L1 is a chitinase-like protein without enzymatic activity, produced by activated macrophages, chondrocytes, neutrophils. Recent studies on arthritis, asthma, and inflammatory bowel diseases suggest that ch...

Authors: Manuela Capone, Laura Maggi, Veronica Santarlasci, Maria Caterina Rossi, Alessio Mazzoni, Gianni Montaini, Rolando Cimaz, Matteo Ramazzotti, Marie Pierre Piccinni, Giusi Barra, Raffaele De Palma, Francesco Liotta, Enrico Maggi, Sergio Romagnani, Francesco Annunziato and Lorenzo Cosmi

HIV-1 Nef promotes migration and chemokine synthesis of human basophils and mast cells through the interaction with CXCR4

The Nef protein can be detected in plasma of HIV-1-infected patients and plays a role in the pathogenesis of HIV-1. Nef produced during the early stages of infection is fundamental in creating the ideal enviro...

Authors: Francesca Wanda Rossi, Nella Prevete, Felice Rivellese, Antonio Lobasso, Filomena Napolitano, Francescopaolo Granata, Carmine Selleri and Amato de Paulis

Dose-dependence of protection from systemic reactions to venom immunotherapy by omalizumab

Systemic reactions (SR) to venom immunotherapy (VIT) are rare but may occur, with a rate significantly higher for honeybee than for vespid VIT. In patients with repeated SRs to VIT it is difficult to reach the...

Authors: Elisa Boni, Cristoforo Incorvaia and Marina Mauro

Mastocytosis and systemic sclerosis: a clinical association

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a complex autoimmune disease characterized by vascular alterations and autoimmune activation leading to widespread organ fibrosis. At the early stage of disease when organ involveme...

Authors: Gianluca Bagnato, William Neal Roberts, Davide Sciortino, Donatella Sangari, Santa Cirmi, Roneka L. Ravenell, Michele Navarra, Gianfilippo Bagnato and Sebastiano Gangemi

Burden of allergic respiratory disease: a systematic review

This meta-analysis compared the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) and/or allergic asthma (AA) caused by perennial house dust mite (HDM) versus AR and/or AA caused by...

Authors: A. Linneberg, K. Dam Petersen, J. Hahn-Pedersen, E. Hammerby, N. Serup-Hansen and N. Boxall