IngentaConnect Immunoglobulin G antibodies against indoor dampness-related micro...

Authors: JAAKKOLA, M. S.¹; LAITINEN, S.²; PIIPARI, R.¹; UITTI, J.³; NORDMAN, H.¹; HAAPALA, A.-M.⁴; JAAKKOLA, J. J. K.

Source: Clinical & Experimental Immunology, Volume 129, Number 1, July 2002 , pp. 107-112(6)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Abstract:

SUMMARY

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against microbes related to indoor dampness problems have been used as potential biomarkers of fungal exposure in clinical investigations. There is limited information on their relation to asthma. We conducted a population-based incident case-control study to assess the risk of asthma in relation to specific IgG antibodies to eight dampness-related microbes: Aspergillus fumigatus, A. versicolor, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Fusarium oxysporum, Sporobolomyces salmonicolor, Stachybotrys chartarum, Streptomyces albus and Trichoderma citrinoviride. We recruited systematically all new cases of asthma during a 2·5-year study period and randomly selected controls from a source population of adults 21-63 years of age living in the Pirkanmaa Hospital District, South Finland. The clinically diagnosed case series consisted of 521 adults with newly diagnosed asthma and the control series of 932 controls selected randomly from the source population. IgG antibodies were analysed with ELISA. An increased risk of developing asthma in adulthood was significantly related to IgG antibodies to T. citrinoviride, but not to the other moulds. There was no evidence of a dose-response relation between the IgG antibody level and the risk of asthma. T. citrinoviride may play a role in the aetiology of adult-onset asthma or serve as an indicator of other causal factors.

Keywords: asthma moulds work environment immunology case-control

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2249.2002.01884.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Occupational Medicine, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland, 2: Kuopio Regional Institute of Occupational Health, Finland, 3: Tampere Regional Institute of Occupational Health, Clinic of Occupational Medicine, Tampere University Hospital, Finland, 4: Centre for Laboratory Medicine, Department of Clinical Microbiology, Tampere University Hospital, Finland,

You have access to the full text article on a website external to Ingentaconnect.

Please click here to view this article on InterScience.

You may be required to register and activate access on InterScience before you can obtain the full text. If you have any queries please contact onlinehelp@oxon.blackwellpublishing.com

Immunoglobulin G antibodies against indoor dampness-related microbes and adult-onset asthma: a population-based incident case-control study