Predictable clinical disorders related to serum and saliva Ig‐levels and the number of circulating T cells in asthmatic children

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Abstract
An examination was made of 221 children with bronchial asthma, who were divided into six groups according to serum and saliva Ig levels and the number of circulating T cells. Absence or small amounts of IgA and low or low-normal numbers of T cells were associated with (1) atopic dermatitis, (2) hypersensitivity to house dust mite and animal danders, (3) previous hospital admissions due to respiratory tract infections with pathogenic bacteria and (4) a high family incidence of allergic diseases. In a group of patients with IgA deficiency and elevated serum and saliva IgM, respiratory tract infections were not common, and furthermore, in another group of IgA-deficient patients with normal numbers of circulating T cells, atopic dermatitis was rare. In the latter patients, allergic rhinitis occurred very frequently, and in that respect they resembled a group of patients with combined high IgM/high IgE levels. Another group of asthmatic children with normal Ig levels represented an intermediate type of patient with regard to hypersensitivity to different allergens and family incidence of allergy on the one hand, and the occurrence of atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis on the other. Investigations on Ig levels and circulating T cells in asthmatic children may provide important clues into disease classification and mechanisms of such patients.

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