High Sensitivity and Specificity of Proliferative Responses of Lymphocytes to Food Antigens for Detection of the Offending Food in Patients with Food-Sensitive Atopic Dermatitis

Abstract

The sensitivities of radioallergosorbent test (RAST) scores for hen's egg or cow's milk in patients with hen's egg- or cow's milk-sensitive immediate symptoms were high, whereas the sensitivities of RAST scores for hen's egg or cow's milk in patients with hen's egg- or cow's milk-sensitive atopic dermatitis (AD) were not high. The specificities of the RAST scores in patients with food-sensitive AD were high. In contrast, both the sensitivity and the specificity of proliferative responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to ovalbumin (OVA) or bovine serum albumin (BSA) were high in patients with hen's egg- or cow's milk-sensitive AD, but the sensitivity of proliferative responses of PBMCs to OVA or BSA were not high in patients with hen's egg- or cow's milk-sensitive immediate symptoms. Moreover, by combining the sensitivity and the specificity values, it was determined that a stimulation index (SI) greater than 2.0 (positive) served as a convenient method to mark a specific offending food in food-sensitive AD. Proliferative responses of PBMCs to food antigens may be more useful than RAST scores for detection of offending food(s) in food-sensitive AD.