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Abstract
BackgroundThe positive and negative predictive values of specific IgE to penicillins are not well established for penicillin hypersensitivity. One reason may be that serum IgE levels to penicillin diminish over time. The objective in this study was to investigate variations in serum half-life (T½) for specific IgE to penicillins (s-IgE) and to evaluate the outcome of penicillin challenges in patients with previous but not present specific IgE to penicillins.MethodsTwo subgroups were investigated. All included patients had a history of penicillin allergy with reported symptoms such as urticaria/angioedema or unclassified cutaneous rash. T½ of specific IgE to penicillins was calculated based on sera from 29 patients with repeated measurements of s-IgE. Twenty-two patients with a previous positive s-IgE was followed and challenged with penicillin when IgE had become negative.ResultsThe T½ for s-IgE varied between the 26 patients with decreasing s-IgE from 1.6 months to 76.4 months and 52% had a T½ of less than a year. The three patients with stable and increasing IgE-values showed T½ approaching infinity A total of 29 challenges with β-lactams were performed. Four different patterns were seen when evaluating the clinical reaction to challenge (positive/negative) and post-challenge boost of s-IgE (yes/no). Eight (36.4%) had negative challenge and negative post-challenge s-IgE, eight (36.4%) negative challenge, but positive post-challenge s-IgE levels. 3 (13.6%) had positive challenge and positive post-challenge s-IgE whereas 3 (13.6%) were challenge positive, but had negative post-challenge s-IgE.ConclusionSpecific IgE to penicillins declines over time stressing the importance of a close time relation between diagnostic work-up and clinical reaction. Reversal of previously positive s-IgE may still be associated with positive penicillin challenges and/or re-boostering of s-IgE to positivity.
Highlights
The positive and negative predictive values of specific Immunoglobulin E (IgE) to penicillins are not well established for penicillin hypersensitivity
In this study approximately half of the patients had a serum half-life of specific IgE to penicillin of less than a year, suggesting that the majority of patients with IgE sensitization at the time of reaction have converted to IgE negativity if measured more than a year after the incident took place
This is supported by the finding that we found the same frequency of positive outcomes during penicillin challenge in the present study compared to our previous study, where all patients challenged never had had demonstrable IgE to penicillin [2] in contrast to the present study where patients had previous IgE sensitization
Summary
The positive and negative predictive values of specific IgE to penicillins are not well established for penicillin hypersensitivity. One reason may be that serum IgE levels to penicillin diminish over time. The objective in this study was to investigate variations in serum half-life (T1⁄2) for specific IgE to penicillins (s-IgE) and to evaluate the outcome of penicillin challenges in patients with previous but not present specific IgE to penicillins. One of the aims of this study was to determine the serum half-life (T1⁄2) of s-IgE. To our knowledge a study on penicillin challenges has never been performed in patients with previous, but not present measurable values of specific IgE to penicillins
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