Prevalence of serum allergen-specific immunoglobulin E for canine atopic dermatitis in Korea

Abstract

Canine atopic dermatitis (CAD) is an allergic skin disease with characteristic clinical features associated with immu- noglobulin E (IgE) antibodies. Identification of the causative allergens is the diagnostic goal, which is essential to treat and manage CAD patients. CAD is commonly associated with environmental allergens surrounding the patients. For this reason, it is important for diagnostic tests to select al- lergens that are related to the environment of each country and each province. There are two main allergen-specific tests, serological IgE test (SAT) and intradermal skin test (IDT). SAT did not show direct cutaneous reaction but did show serological reaction against allergens. However, SAT is simpler and more convenient than IDT in small animal practice. In this study, we selected domestically prevalent al- lergens for SAT, including 60 food allergens and 60 inhalant allergens, and tested eight dogs tentatively diagnosed with CAD based on Favrot’s criteria. Furthermore, IDT was per- formed on four dogs from the SAT group for comparison of SAT and IDT, and the results were very similar. In SAT, four types of mites (Bloomia tropicalis, Glycophagus domes- ticus, Euroglyphus maynei, and mite mixture 1 Korea; house dust mites), four types of molds (Botrytis cinerea, Alternaria alternata, mold fungi mixture 11, mold fungi mixture), and one type of pollen (tree pollen mix 3 Korea) induced a reac- tion in more than half of dogs tested. In IDT, all four dogs reacted positively to Dermatophagoides farinae, and three reacted positively to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and house dust. The mean agreement rate between SAT and IDT in this study was 76.3%. This is the first trial to apply local allergens for SAT in Korean veterinary medicine, and it might play an important role for diagnoses and manage- ment of animal allergic diseases.