Latex gloves with a lower protein content reduce bronchial reactions in subjects with occupational asthma caused by latex.

Latex gloves have been documented as causing rhinitis and asthma. Using inhalation challenges, we evaluated the bronchial response to hypoallergenic gloves in eight health care workers with latex-induced asthma. The subjects were exposed to the powdered latex gloves causing asthma at work and various brands of gloves with a lower protein content, either low-powdered, nonpowdered, or powdered.

Serum immunoglobulin levels in heterozygous subjects with immunoglobulin heavy chain constant region gene deletions.

The immunoglobulin heavy chain constant region locus is a multigene family composed of nine genes and two pseudogenes, whose high homology is often responsible for meiotic mispairings leading to deleted and duplicated haplotypes. These rearrangements have a population frequency of about 1.5% and 4.

Bronchoalveolar lavage immunoglobulin A and G and antiproteases correlate with changes in diffusion indices during the natural course of pulmonary sarcoidosis.

We wanted to determine whether cell populations and soluble components in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) could be useful in predicting the outcome of lung function and chest radiography in patients with untreated pulmonary sarcoidosis. Analysis of soluble proteins in BAL fluid, included the levels of immunoglobulins and the two major antiproteases, alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2-M) and alpha 1-protease inhibitor (alpha 1-PI), expressed as a relative coefficient of excretion (RCE). Thirty one nonsmoking patients with biopsy proven sarcoidosis, who remained untreated, had reassessment of lung function tests after 6-54 months (median 21 months).