Alpha-1-Antitrypsin Enhances Primary Human Macrophage Immunity Against Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria.

The association between non-tuberculous mycobacterial lung disease and alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency is likely due, in part, to underlying emphysema or bronchiectasis. But there is increasing evidence that AAT itself enhances host immunity against microbial pathogens and thus deficiency could compromise host protection. The goal of this project is to determine if AAT could augment macrophage activity against non-tuberculous mycobacteria.

A comparison of specific IgE and skin prick test results to common environmental allergens using the HYTEC™ 288.

Although skin-prick testing (SPT) is commonly used by allergists in the evaluation of allergy, in-vitro testing for specific IgE (sIgE) is an attractive alternate because it can be performed remotely and is of utility when SPT is contraindicated, as in patients on anti-histamines, or with dermatitis or severe eczema. It is, however, necessary to determine the extent of correlation between the in-vitro and in-vivo methods. In this study, we examined the qualitative concordance between SPT and sIgE as measured on the HYTEC™288 platform for 10 commonly encountered inhalant allergens in 232 subjects, and analysed the performance characteristics for the HYTEC™288.