RESUMO
Allergic rhinitis [AR] is an allergic disorder of the nasal tissue that underlies diseases such as sinusitis, otits and asthma. Different predisposing factors including immunological and non-immunological factors contribute to the disease pathogenesis. To investigate association of haptoglobin [Hp] phenotypes [Hp1-1, 2-1 and 2-2] with serum immunoglobulins A and E levels in patients suffering from AR in comparison with healthy individuals. Two hundred and forty patients and 240 healthy individual entered in this case-control study. Serum levels of IgE and IgA were measured and haptoglobulin phenotypes were determined by electrophoresis. The results were evaluated by chi[2] statistical test using SPSS software. Serum electrophoresis showed that the distribution of haptoglobin phenotypes of Hp1-1, Hp2-1 and Hp2-2 among 240 patients were 11.3%, 37.9% and 50.8%, respectively. The distribution of different haptoglobin phenotypes in healthy controls were 88.7%, 36.6% and 54.7%, respectively. However, the difference between patients and controls was not statistically significant [p=0.136]. The mean of IgE level was significantly higher in patients than controls in association with all three phenotypes [p<0.001]. Mean of IgA serum level was also significantly different between case and control groups for Hp1-1 [p<0.048] and Hp2-2 phenotypes [p<0.027]. We conclude that there is an association of all three haptoglobin phenotypes with IgE level. Hp1-1 and Hp2-2 phenotypes showed association with IgA in allergic rhinitis, as well. However, we cannot solely attribute these associations to the pathogenesis of allergic rhinitis