Seasonal variation in specific IgE antibodies of grass-pollen hypersensitive patients depends on the steady state IgE concentration and is not related to clinical symptoms.

To evaluate parameters that determine the serum titer of specific antiallergen IgE antibodies, we graded the clinical symptoms of 78 grass-pollen hypersensitive patients during two consecutive seasons, while serum total and specific antigrass-pollen IgE antibodies were titrated every 2 weeks. Correlation studies of clinical symptoms, grass-pollen counts, and specific IgE antibodies demonstrated that (1) bronchial asthma and nasal symptoms cannot be predicted on the basis of preseasonal IgE titers, (2) clinical symptoms are not related to seasonal antigrass-pollen IgE antibodies, (3) antigrass pollen and total IgE antibodies are not directly dependent on the air pollen point concentration, (4) increase in specific IgE antibodies during the pollen season is strongly correlated to preseasonal specific IgE titers, and (5) individual fluctuations of specific IgE antibody titers during the pollen season are proportional to preseasonal specific IgE titers. These findings suggest that titration of serum-specific IgE antibodies is of little use in predicting or monitoring the clinical symptoms of grass-pollen hypersensitive patients, since IgE titers strongly depend on individual immune responsiveness.