Re: High Levels of IgE in Rheumatoid Patients as well as Allergic Patients

[Guest guest]

There have been musings on the group before about an allergy-asthma-

arthrtis link. A lot of us who mused reported family with

arthritis. I can only report on my family: My mother's mother had

terrible arthritis (with lots of obvious swelling). My mother has

moderate arthritis. Neither of them has/had allergies. I have

terrible allergies/asthma and already arthritis is starting to set in.

Personally, I wonder if there is also an " inflammatory " gene. That

is, if arthritis is not IgE mediated, do those of us in families with

allergies/asthma and arthritis have a propensity to inflammation for

some genetic reason?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Addy

Group co-owner

--- In , " instdesgn1 " <instdesgn1@...>

wrote:

>

> I was reading an article published back in Jan. 1999 that said that

> rheumatoid arthritis patients, despite having elevated IgE levels,

> are less likely to have allergic disease. The Journal of

> Translational Immunology

> http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1905175

>

> This seemed rather confounding and I must admit I don't fully

> understand the article. The article states that IgE antibodies

have

> been detected in patients with atopic dermatitis, rhinitis, asthma

> and hay fever (we on this board already know that !!!!) and in

vitro

> analysis showed that these natural anti-IgE antibodies are able to

up-

> or down and regulate the effects and the synthesis of IgE. So is

> our allergic asthma problem that we cannot process IgE properly?

>

> Ok, those of us with elevated IgE - do we have antibodies against

> IgE? Or does Xolair create an antibody to IgE? I know that Xolair

> somehow stops the allergic effect but I'm confused.

>

> They mention complexed anti-IgE - what is that? Does it affect

us?

> The article further states: " Compared with the allergic group,

sera

> of RA patients showed an increased specific IgE titre against one

> allergen (Alternaria) but not against nine other frequently

> encountered allergens. " Is Alternaria a fungus or what? Those of

us

> with allergic asthma react to different substances. Some on Xolair

> seem to experience improvement in arthritis and some do not. Could

> that be due to allergy to Alternaria?

>

> Then ... " Furthermore IgE–anti-IgE complexes were shown to have a

> positive correlation to active disease (swollen joints) " " These

> anti-IgE antibodies may interfere with binding of IgE and thus

> prevent sensitization of basophils and mast cells. Similarly it has

> been found that patients treated with anti-IgE antibodies had

> increased levels of IgE–anti-IgE complexes and thereby the half-

life

> of serum IgE was increased "

>

> Ok, still not sure on all this but ... does this mean that Xolair

> does in fact have the ability to reduce arthritic symptoms?

>

> A few years ago various doctors disdainfully and even

condescendingly

> informed me that arthritis, allergies, and asthma were all thought

to

> be inter-related. They also implied that these were all

emotionally

> related. I think the latter is a bunch of bull but re this article

> I'm wondering if there is a correlation biologically between

> arthritis, allergis, and asthma?

>

[Guest guest]

>

> There have been musings on the group before about an allergy-asthma-

> arthrtis link. A lot of us who mused reported family with

> arthritis. I can only report on my family: My mother's mother had

> terrible arthritis (with lots of obvious swelling). My mother has

> moderate arthritis. Neither of them has/had allergies. I have

> terrible allergies/asthma and already arthritis is starting to set in.

>

> Personally, I wonder if there is also an " inflammatory " gene. That

> is, if arthritis is not IgE mediated, do those of us in families with

> allergies/asthma and arthritis have a propensity to inflammation for

> some genetic reason?

>

> Inquiring minds want to know!

>

> Addy

> Group co-owner

>

What about a Psoriasis link? I have had it for years on my elbows and

scalp, now it is spreading to my legs and back.

Doug

Group founder

[Guest guest]

There is something called psoriatic arthritis. I was originally

diagnosed w/it several months ago but when the " markers " did not show

up in blood tests it was changed to sero negative rheumatoid

arthritis as I don't have the markers for that either. Psoriatic

arthritis is also considered to be an autoimmune disease and if

you've got one, you're more likely to have another. It's also

treated by monoclonal antibodies as well as methotrexate, as I

recall. I was the one who started that discussion ....

Obviously there must be some " tweaked " differences in the type

of " allergy " or whatever it is that causes these effects. i.e., IgE

must function differently under different circumstances. Maybe

that's why people sometimes do not find Xolair effective or others

find it partially effective and others have complete loss of

symptoms.

Some people w/relatively low IgE still have significant asthma - as

much as folks with much higher IgE's. Doesn't make sense. I know

it's not marketed for arthritis but since there is alleged to be some

sort of link I was hoping Xolair would help w/arthritis. I think

I've seen a couple of postings where people did have an improvement

in arthritis or at least body aches w/Xolair. Again, there are

obviously some " missing links " in the knowledge bank.

Addy, you took the words right out of my keyboard " inquiring minds

want to know " <wink> <grin> I want complete

satisfaction/information on all this!

> >

> > There have been musings on the group before about an allergy-

asthma-

> > arthrtis link. A lot of us who mused reported family with

> > arthritis. I can only report on my family: My mother's mother

had

> > terrible arthritis (with lots of obvious swelling). My mother

has

> > moderate arthritis. Neither of them has/had allergies. I have

> > terrible allergies/asthma and already arthritis is starting to

set in.

> >

> > Personally, I wonder if there is also an " inflammatory " gene.

That

> > is, if arthritis is not IgE mediated, do those of us in families

with

> > allergies/asthma and arthritis have a propensity to inflammation

for

> > some genetic reason?

> >

> > Inquiring minds want to know!

> >

> > Addy

> > Group co-owner

> >

>

>

>

> What about a Psoriasis link? I have had it for years on my elbows

and

> scalp, now it is spreading to my legs and back.

>

> Doug

> Group founder

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks again, Mark. One of the articles made a comment to the effect

that this is a serious disease - not to be taken as trivial or

something along those lines. It's refreshing in a sense to hear that

as most doctors and the general public tend to look at allergies as

unimportant. I suspect that some day it will be found that

autoimmune diseases have some things in common.

--- In , " Mark Headley " <mjheadley@...>

wrote:

>

>

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v454/n7203/abs/nature07204.html;j

sessionid=F61663F9F03353301044DADFAB5B9672

>

>

http://npg.nature.com/nature/journal/v420/n6917/fig_tab/nature01324_F1

..html

>

>

http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.immunol.26

..021607.090320

>

>

> " . . . allergic and autoimmune responses. Both are considered

hypersensitivity responses "

>

> " Although mast cells have long been recognized as central players

in allergy, only recently has their role in autoimmunity become

apparent. Because of the commonalities of these responses, much of

what we have learned about the underlying mast cell-dependent

mechanisms of inflammatory damage in allergy and asthma can be used

to understand autoimmunity. "

>

>

>

>