A Case of Immediate Hypersensitivity Reaction to Maltitol.

Background: Maltitol is a sugar alcohol that is frequently used as a noncaloric sweetener, although it is also used as an excipient, a plasticizer in gelatin capsules, and an emollient. It has not been previously described as an agent involved in immediate hypersensitivity reactions.

Methods: We report on an anaphylactoid reaction with pharyngeal occlusion suffered by a 60-year-old man after ingestion of a candy containing maltitol syrup.

Short-, Intermediate-, and Long-Term Changes in Basophil Reactivity Induced by Venom Immunotherapy.

Purpose: The basophil activation test (BAT) has been used to monitor venom immunotherapy (VIT) due to its high specificity. A previous study has reported a good correlation between a significant decrease in basophil activation during 5 years of VIT and clinical protection assessed by sting challenge. The following prospective study was performed to examine changes in basophil reactivity over a complete VIT period of 5 years.

CD106 and activated-CD29 are expressed on myelomatous bone marrow plasma cells and their downregulation is associated with tumour progression.

Malignant plasma cells (PC) from multiple myeloma (MM) patients characteristically home to the bone marrow (BM). High numbers of tumour cells are found in the peripheral blood (PB) only at end-stage disease (secondary plasma cell leukaemia, PCL) in a minority of patients. Using flow cytometric and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis, a high percentage of tumoral BM PC from untreated patients was found to express CD106.