Malignancy and specific allergen immunotherapy: the results of a case series.

Background: Specific immunotherapy with allergen is the only causative treatment for IgE-mediated allergies such as stinging insect allergy or hay fever and works by the induction of blocking antibodies and regulatory T lymphocytes.

Objective: Does a hypothetical obstruction of tumor surveillance presupposing the induction of regulatory T cells really justify detaining immunotherapy to oncologic patients as suggested by recent guidelines?

Methods: We report 6 patients (4 female, 2 male) suffering or having suffered from stage 1 cancer (4 melanomas, 1 lung cancer, 1 breast cancer) and concomitant IgE-mediated allergy. Four of them had a history of severe anaphylactic reactions to the insect yellow jacket, the 5th suffered from allergic rhinoconjunctivitis to dust mites, and the 6th to grass/rye pollen.

Fixed drug eruption caused by mefenamic acid: a case series and diagnostic algorithms.

Background: Fixed drug eruption is a fairly common drug-induced hypersensitivity reaction of the skin and the mucous membranes, which is characterized by the re-occurrence of the lesion(s) exactly on the previously involved sites after repeated administration. The pathogenetic mechanisms of this site-specificity are not fully elucidated.

Patients And Methods: We report on three cases of fixed drug eruption, including a non-pigmenting generalized bullous fixed drug eruption, caused by mefenamic acid in its pure form.