Dang Van S, Fouquet O, Jeanneteau A, Leclere JM, Baufreton C
General thoracic and cardiovascular surgery •
Allergy to Galactose-Alpha-1,3-Galactose is an allergy to mammalian proteins, that are present on the surface of standard bioprosthestic valves, and could result in a catastrophic allergic reaction or may cause early deterioration of the bioprostheses. Aortic homograft is an acceptable alternative to standard prosthetic valves (biological and mechanical) to avoid a potential allergic manifestation and the need for definitive oral anticoagulation. We report the implantation of an aortic homograft in a patient with an aortic stenosis who presents a documented AlphaGal allergy.
Drouet M, Sabbah A, Le Sellin J, Bonneau JC, Gay G, et al.
Allergie et immunologie •
Crossed allergy between pork and cat epithelia was described by us in 1994. It is due to serum albumin. Nowadays, other bio-chemical observations allow "completion" of the syndrome by extension of the crossed reactivity between other mammal meats and other epithelia of dog and horse. The authors report an observation of the pork-cat syndrome (developing in the form of anaphylaxis, and then ending in the death of the patient), following consumption of wild boar meat. Co-factors, such as effort, taking alcohol or hormonal condition may complicate the picture to make diagnosis more difficult.
Observations are reported of two heparin-allergic patients (in one case, urticaria and in the other urticaria and asthma). These two patients show a curious association of the pork/cat syndrome, previously described (1, 2), that is an association of sensitivity to cat epithelia and pork meat. Since the heparins used nowadays are of porcine origin, the question is raised of a possible causal link that may exist between these 2 allergies. It seems that the possibility of association of these two allergies is much more likely than chance encounter.
This work confirms that the common allergen in subjects who are doubly sensitized to cat and pork is quite different from that of subjects who are mono-sensitized to cat. The common protein is Albumin MW 67 Kda in the pork/cat syndrome, while the major allergen Feld One is characteristic in patients who are monosensitized to cat.
A patient who presented with exercise-induced anaphylaxis, linked with a food allergy to pork meat (VP), about three years ago became allergic to VP though effort was necessary to trigger the anaphylactic reactions. These disappeared after suppression of the VP allergy, but the IgE response to VP persisted until the cat was removed from the environment.
Drouet M, Boutet S, Lauret MG, Chène J, Bonneau JC, et al.
Allergie et immunologie •
This work is a study of the frequency of the association between sensitivity to pork meat and cat epithelia. Comparison with a reference population that was not sensitized to pork meat, shows that this association is highly significant. This suggests therefore the possibility of a crossed allergenicity. If there is a real crossed allergenicity between pork meat and cat epithelia, we suggest that this crossed allergenicity is without doubt much greater and concerns more the meats and epithelia of mammals.
Is there a port-cat syndrome in food allergy? Many clinical observations have revealed a frequent association between allergy to cat epithelia in subjects who have allergy to pork meat. This second part, from clinical tests such as skin tests and laboratory tests such as CAP RAST, electrophoresis, Western blot and chromatography, confirms the existence of a crossed reaction between pork meat and cat extract. This crossed reaction is linked with a common epitope. A common protein has been found that has a molecular weight of 67,000 d. for subjects who are sensitive to cat extracts and pork meat.