BACKGROUND Sparse clinical observations suggest a possible association between food allergy to lipid transfer protein (LTP) and chronic urticaria (CU). OBJECTIVE To investigate the possible association between LTP hypersensitivity and CU. METHODS History of CU, and/or of NSAID hypersensitivity was prospectively assessed in 75 consecutive LTP-allergic subjects (M/F 27/48; age 33.6 years); th...

PURPOSE Chronic urticaria (CU) has a substantial impact on the quality of life. Little clinical data on the prognosis of CU has been reported. This study aimed to investigate the control status and remission rate of CU and to explore potential predictors of good responses to the treatment during a 6-month treatment period. METHODS A total of 75 patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU...

BACKGROUND The pathophysiology and triggers of idiopathic nonhistaminergic angioedema are unclear. This study aimed to assess autoreactivity in recurrent idiopathic angioedema associated or not with wheals. METHODS The study population comprised 19 patients with recurrent idiopathic nonhistaminergic angioedema without wheals, 38 patients with angioedema and chronic urticaria (CU), and 52 pati...

BACKGROUND Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a powerful enhancer of vascular permeability and inflammatory response; however its significance in chronic urticaria is poorly recognised. AIM To compare free circulating levels of VEGF and its soluble receptors (sVEGFR1 and VEGFR2) in patients with different forms of chronic urticaria. METHODS The concentrations of VEGF and its recep...

PURPOSE Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a disease that is primarily seen in adults and is comparatively rare in children. Consequently, only a few studies have focused on the pathogenesis of the disease in children. This study investigated the possible role of metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in the pathogenesis of CSU in children. METHODS The study group was composed of 54 children with CS...

Delayed pressure urticaria (DPU) is characterized by deep dermal wheals that appear in response to a local continuous pressure. Although it has been reported to complicate as many as 40% of cases of Caucasian patients with chronic urticaria, no definitive cases of Asian/Japanese patients have been reported in English literature. Here, we identified 17 cases of DPU, among 540 Japanese patients w...