Serum IgE and IgG antibody activity against Aspergillus fumigatus as a diagnostic aid in allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis

Am Rev Respir Dis. 1978 May;117(5):917-27. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1978.117.5.917.

Abstract

Serum IgE and IgG antibody activity against Aspergillus fumigatus was measured in 3 groups of subjects by 2 different immunologic methods. Group A consisted of 23 patients with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA). Group B was composed of 19 patients with extrinsic asthma who had marked immediate type skin reactivity to A. fumigatus (prick skin test, 3 or 4+) but no other manifestation of ABPA. Group C, the control group, was composed of 12 healthy subjects. Two immunological methods, including a solid-phase polystyrene tube radioimmunoassay and an iodine-125-labeled, A. fumigatus antigen radioimmunoassay, were used to study each patient's serum sample, so as to demonstrate IgE antibody activity against A. fumigatus (IgE-Af) and IgG antibody activity against A. fumigatus (IgG-Af). Both IgE-Af and IgG-Af were significantly greater among patients in Group A than among those in Group B and Group C, as measured by both methods (P is less than 0.001). The results of this study suggest that either method can be used as a diagnostic aid for ABPA. These methods may provide a laboratory test permitting diagnosis of ABPA in its early stages before bronchial or pulmonary destruction occurs.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Aspergillosis / immunology*
  • Aspergillus fumigatus / immunology*
  • Asthma / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin E / analysis*
  • Immunoglobulin M / analysis*
  • Iodine Radioisotopes
  • Lung Diseases, Fungal / immunology*
  • Polystyrenes
  • Radioimmunoassay / methods
  • Respiratory Hypersensitivity / immunology

Substances

  • Immunoglobulin M
  • Iodine Radioisotopes
  • Polystyrenes
  • Immunoglobulin E