Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Jun 26, 2015; 5(2): 31-50
Published online Jun 26, 2015. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v5.i2.31
Cross-reactivity between aeroallergens and food allergens
Florin-Dan Popescu
Florin-Dan Popescu, Department of Allergology, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, “Nicolae Malaxa” Clinical Hospital, 022441 Bucharest, Romania
Author contributions: Popescu FD solely contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest: The author declares there are no conflicts of interest related to the editorial.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Florin-Dan Popescu, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Allergology, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, “Nicolae Malaxa” Clinical Hospital, Sector 2, 022441 Bucharest, Romania. florindanpopescu@ymail.com
Telephone: +40-21-2555405 Fax: +40-21-2555275
Received: January 26, 2015
Peer-review started: January 28, 2015
First decision: March 6, 2015
Revised: March 25, 2015
Accepted: April 16, 2015
Article in press: April 20, 2015
Published online: June 26, 2015
Processing time: 162 Days and 17.3 Hours
Abstract

In patients with respiratory allergy, cross-reactivity between aeroallergens and foods may induce food allergy, symptoms ranging from oral allergy syndrome to severe anaphylaxis. Clinical entities due to IgE sensitization to cross-reactive aeroallergen and food allergen components are described for many sources of plant origin (pollen-food syndromes and associations, such as birch-apple, cypress-peach and celery-mugwort-spice syndromes, and mugwort-peach, mugwort-chamomile, mugwort-mustard, ragweed-melon-banana, goosefoot-melon associations), fungal origin (Alternaria-spinach syndrome), and invertebrate, mammalian or avian origin (mite-shrimp, cat-pork, and bird-egg syndromes). Clinical cases of allergic reactions to ingestion of food products containing pollen grains of specific plants, in patients with respiratory allergy to Asteraceae pollen, especially mugwort and ragweed, are also mentioned, for honey, royal jelly and bee polen dietary supplements, along with allergic reactions to foods contaminated with mites or fungi in patients with respiratory allergy to these aeroallergens. Medical history and diagnosis approach may be guided by the knowledge about the diverse cross-reacting allergens involved, and by the understanding of these clinical entities which may vary significantly or may be overlapping. The association between primary IgE sensitization with respiratory symptoms to inhaled allergens and food allergy due to cross-reactive allergen components is important to assess in allergy practice. The use of molecular-based diagnosis improves the understanding of clinically relevant IgE sensitization to cross-reactive allergen components from aeroallergen sources and foods.

Keywords: Cross-reactivity syndromes and associations; Aeroallergens; Food allergens

Core tip: Many different syndromes and associations due to cross-reactivity between aeroallergens and food allergens of plant, fungal and animal origin have been described. Significant examples are pollen-food syndromes or associations, along with mite-shrimp, cat-pork, and bird-egg syndromes, but rare or more complex clinical entities must also be discussed. It is important to underline the impact of relevant cross-reactivities between aeroallergens and food allergens and of molecular-based allergy diagnosis in clinical practice.