Local immune response in patients with cow milk allergy: follow-up of patients retaining allergy or becoming tolerant.

To assist in identifying factors that determine the clinical outcome of cow milk allergy, we subjected to rechallenge 37 patients with a history of cow milk allergy, mean (+/- SD) age 27.6 +/- 7.1 months, after a follow-up of 13.5 +/- 5.1 months with a milk-free diet. A solid-phase enzyme-linked immunoassay was used to assess the total number of immunoglobulin-secreting and specific antibody-secreting cells among peripheral blood lymphocytes primed during provocation by milk antigens, giving indirect evidence of local immune response in the gut. Patients with persistent cow milk allergy (n = 13) had milder reactions at rechallenge than they had shown at the time of diagnosis. Numbers of immunoglobulin-secreting cells in these patients increased significantly from a geometric mean (95% confidence interval) in the IgA class of 1570 (1009, 2445) to 2984 (1941, 4583) IgA-secreting cells/10(6) cells, in the IgG class of 1445 (1067, 1959) to 2740 (1698, 4425) IgG-secreting cells/10(6) cells, and in the IgM class of 842 (534, 1325) to 2235 (1429, 3495) IgM-secreting cells/10(6) cells. By contrast, in patients (n = 24) who had acquired cow milk tolerance, the number of immunoglobulin-secreting cells did not increase during provocation. The total number of IgA-secreting cells before rechallenge was significantly higher than it had been before the initial challenge. The patients who acquired cow milk tolerance also had specific antibody-secreting cells of IgA isotype before the second challenge. These results indicate that in cow milk allergy the ability to mount a local immune response against cow milk antigens, particularly in the IgA class, is related to the suppression of clinical sensitivity.