A consistent pattern of minor immunodeficiency and subtle enteropathy in children with multiple food allergy.

Objective: Although immunoglobulin (Ig)E-mediated allergies are readily identifiable, non-IgE-mediated allergies present more diagnostic difficulty. We performed a formal retrospective analysis to determine whether there is a recognizable clinical pattern in children.

Methods: We studied 121 children (mean age, 17.

Reduced transforming growth factor-beta1-producing T cells in the duodenal mucosa of children with food allergy.

Infant food allergies are increasing, and many breast-fed infants now sensitize to maternally-ingested antigens. As low-dose oral tolerance requires generation of suppressor lymphocytes producing TGF-beta1 (Th3 cells), we studied these cells in duodenal biopsies after diagnostic endoscopy. Spontaneous production of Th1, Th2 and Th3 cytokines by duodenal lymphocytes was studied using flow cytometry in 20 children with no eventual clinico-pathological diagnosis (controls), 30 children with multiple food allergy, nine with celiac disease and six with inflammatory enteropathies.