Short report
Kissing selectively decreases allergen-specific IgE production in atopic patients

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Abstract

Objective

Stress enhanced allergic skin wheal responses and allergen-specific IgE production. In contrast, mothers' kissing caused relaxation in infants, and kissing by lovers or spouses to atopic patients reduced allergic skin wheal responses. I studied the effect of kissing on production of allergen-specific IgE and cytokines in atopic patients.

Methods

Twenty-four patients with mild atopic eczema and 24 patients with mild allergic rhinitis kissed with lovers or spouses freely for 30 min while listening to soft music. Just before and immediately after kissing, blood mononuclear cells were separated cultured for allergen, and production of allergen-specific immunoglobulin and cytokine was measured.

Results

Kissing selectively decreased allergen-specific IgE production with skewing cytokine pattern toward Th1 type.

Conclusion

Kissing may alleviate allergic symptoms by decrease in allergen-specific IgE production.

Introduction

Increased stress in early childhood is associated with atopic immune profile [1]. In fact, stress enhanced allergic skin wheal responses and allergen-specific IgE production in atopic patients [2]. In contrast, I have reported that relaxation by laughter or listening to Mozart reduces allergic responses and decreases allergen-specific IgE production [3], [4], [5]. It has been reported that mothers' kissing causes relaxation in healthy infants [6]. Moreover, I have previously reported that kissing by lovers or spouses to atopic patients reduces allergic responses and skews cytokine pattern toward Th1 type [7]. These reports prompted me to study whether kissing could modulate production of allergen-specific IgE and cytokines in atopic patients.

Section snippets

Subjects

Twenty-four patients with mild atopic dermatitis (AD) (12 females and 12 males; mean age, 28 years; range, 22–34 years), who were allergic to Japanese cedar pollen (JCP), house dust mite (HDM), and latex, and 24 patients with mild allergic rhinitis (AR) (12 females and 12 males; mean age, 26 years; range, 21–32 years), who were allergic to JCP, were recruited after obtaining informed consent. All of the patients were outpatients at the Department of Allergy, Satou Hospital. All of them are

Results and discussion

As shown in Table 1, production of JCP-specific IgE, IgG4, or IgA was not affected in the control study in AD or AR patients. In contrast, JCP-specific IgE production was decreased in the kissing study without affecting production of JCP-specific IgG4 or IgA1 in these atopic patients. Production of JCP-specific IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, IgM, or IgA2 was not induced (<0.15 ng/ml) in the control or kissing study in AD patients or AR patients as previously reported [8].

We and others have reported that

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