Research Article

Endotyping cellular and humoral cross-reactivity among tobacco, tomato, and potato in patients with Allergic Multimorbidity

Abstract

Background: Sensitization to panallergens is associated with allergic multimorbidity and polysensitization. Solanaceae allergens may elicit several allergic endotypes characterized by specific or combined humoral and cellular hypersensitivity mechanisms. Tobacco, potato, and tomato are flowering plants in the Solanaceae family that are known to cause diverse hypersensitivity disease phenotypes. Study Design: We examined retrospectively the medical charts of two cohorts of patients clinically diagnosed with non–IgE-mediated multimorbidity allergic phenotypes related to inhalation of tobacco smoke and/or ingestion of tomato and/or potato who were investigated by the Tube Titration of Precipitins (TTP) or the Leukocyte Adherence Inhibition Test (LAIT) simultaneously against the three extracts. Methodology: The registered results for the TTP and LAIT against tobacco, potato, and tomato extracts were plotted as ranges using a cascade distribution chart to illustrate the variability within the cohorts. The registered results for Leukocyte Adherence Inhibition (LAI) percentage and precipitin titration was plotted on a cascade distribution chart to illustrate the variability of the results. The correlation between the paired assays was calculated using Pearson’s method and is shown in the dispersion graphs. Results: The paired t-test indicated no significant difference in LAIT results between tobacco and tomato (p-value = 0.57). Pearson’s correlation indicated a significantly moderate positive relationship between tobacco and tomato LAIT results: r (98) = 0.4, p-value <0.001. The paired t-test indicated a significant difference between tobacco and potato LAIT results (p-value = 0.002). Pearson’s correlation indicated a significantly moderate positive relationship between tobacco and tomato LAIT results: r (98) = 0.54, p-value <0.001.The paired t-test indicated a significant difference between tomato and potato LAIT results (p-value= 0.005). Pearson’s correlation indicated a moderate, significant positive relationship between tobacco and tomato LAIT results (r (98) = 0.216, p = 0.031). The paired t-test indicated that there is a significantly small difference between tobacco TTP results (mean = 242.6; SD = 176.7) and tomato TTP results (mean = 170.1; SD = 154.5), t (99) = 3.1; p = 0.003. Pearson’s correlation indicated a non-significant, very small positive relationship between tobacco TTP and tomato TTP: r (98) = 0.00729; p = 0.943. The paired t-test indicated that there is a significantly small difference between tobacco TTP (mean = 242.6; SD = 176.7) and potato TTP (mean = 178.4; SD = 145.2); t (99) = 2.6; p = 0.012. Pearson’s correlation indicated that there is a significantly small negative relationship between tobacco TTP and potato TTP: r (98) = 0.214, p = 0.032. The paired t-test indicated that there is a non-significant, very small difference between potato TTP (mean = 178.4; SD = 145.2) and tomato TTP (mean = 170.1; SD = 154.5); t (99) = 0.4; p = 0.725. Pearson’s correlation indicated that there is a significantly small negative relationship between potato TTP and tomato TTP: r (98) = 0.238; p = 0.017.Conclusion: The preliminary results suggest that the TTP and LAIT may discriminate among diverse levels of humoral and cellular immunoreactivity in patients with tobacco-, tomato-, and potato-related hypersensitivity phenotypes, with a more consistent correlation in the cellular immunoreactivity results than in the humoral assays.