INVITRO CELL-MEDIATED IMMUNOLOGICAL ASSAY FOR COWS MILK ALLERGY

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 66  (3) , 399-402
Abstract
The production of a lymphokine, the leukocyte-migration-inhibition factor (LIF), by peripheral blood lymphocytes in response to an in vitro challenge with bovine .beta.-lactoglobulin was assayed in infants and children suspected of having allergy to cow''s milk protein. Of the patients studied, 24 had cow''s milk allergy, 24 were normal control subjects, 18 had recovered from milk allergy, 10 were newborns and 10 were babies suffering from acute gastroenteritis. All patients with milk allergy demonstrated significant LIF production in response to .beta.-lactoglobulin (23.5% .+-. 6.4%). In the normal control subjects, LIF was 3.1% .+-. 4.3% (P < 0.0005). Only 2 of the 24 control subjects and 2 of the 10 newborns had high-normal values bordering on the positive. None of the 10 babies with acute gastroenteritis gave a positive response. Most of the children who had recovered from milk allergy and were ingesting cow''s milk had negative assays. This cell-mediated immune assay is a reliable test for the diagnosis of sensitivity to milk protein in infants and children,and for determining dietary treatment and when this treatment can be safely terminated. In most cases, its use should eliminate the need for the potentially dangerous and ethically questionable provocation test, and the need for repeated intestinal biopsies.