Concordance of skin prick test and serum-specific IgE to locally produced component-resolved diagnostics for cockroach allergy.

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of Periplaneta americana (American cockroach, ACR) allergy is commonly performed based on clinical history and skin prick test (SPT) or specific serum IgE (sIgE) measurement. The concordance of the findings with the SPT and sIgE results has never been investigated. OBJECTIVE: To compare the results of SPT with commercial ACR-extract (C-ACE) and sIgE measurement, using commercial kit and in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to the locally produced ACR extract (L-ACE) and native Per a 1, Per a 5, Per a 7, and Per a 9. METHODS: Sera from 66 individuals clinically diagnosed with chronic allergic rhinitis were included; 46 were positive SPT to C-ACE, and 20 were negative. Specific serum IgE levels were established by using a commercial test kit (ImmunoCap) and an in-house IgE-ELISA RESULTS: The percentage the C-ACE SPT-positive cases that were positive by the ImmunoCap-sIgE was 32.6%, indicating low concordance of the 2 assays. With the in-house ELISA, Per a 9 gave the highest sensitivity (98.00%), positive predictive value (PPV; 95.74%), and negative predictive value (NPV; 94.74%) of the sIgE quantification. The correlation coefficients (R) of the L-ACE-SPT and sIgE to L-ACE, Per a 1, Per a 5, Per a 7, and Per a 9 and ImmunoCap sIgE were 0.133, 0.278, 0.419, 0.280, and 0.432, and 0.256, respectively. CONCLUSION: Skin prick test and sIgE measurement using commercial reagents have low concordance. Data of this study showed that sIgE to the native Per a 9 should be considered as an adjunct to the clinical history in diagnosis of ACR sensitization/allergy, particularly when the SPT and the nasal challenge, which is the gold standard method, cannot be performed.

Human Papillomavirus Infection in Oral Cavity and Oropharyngeal Cancers: Are They the Same Story?

Background: Nowadays, human papillomavirus (HPV) infection becomes the main risk factor for head and neck cancer development. In Thailand, the related role of this viral infection to head and neck cancer is still unknown and not well established. Objective: To identify different characteristics of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer, and to determine the HPV-associated prevalence of these two tumor types in Thailand, which is unlike the Western countries. Material and Method: Between 2010 and 2012, a cross-sectional study was performed in 23 oral cavity and 23 oropharyngeal cancer patients. HPV genome was studied in all of them from pathological confirmed fresh specimens. Risks of HPV infection were collected using self-reported questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer was significantly noted in 26.09% (p = 0.009), while no demonstrable HPV-associated prevalence in oral cavity cancer. In addition, the routes of HPV infection were not identifiable. Conclusion: Oral cavity and oropharygeal cancers are not only anatomically distinct, but also greatly differed in their characteristics and pathophysiology. The percentage of HPV-related tumors in Thailand is considerably low when compared to the Western countries. However, the impact on treatment modification cannot yet be universally applied.