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Background Allergenic crossreactivity of pollen and foods due to the antigeneic similarity of oligopeptides is a well established clinical phenomenon. Objective To determine the immunopathological relevance of antigen presentation, we analysed the HLA class-II genotype of patients with either pollen allergy or pollen associated food allergy. Methods One hundred and twenty patients with pollen allergy and 80 patients with pollen associated food allergy were evaluated by skin- prick tests, RAST, and HLA class-II genotyping. The control population comprised 4251 healthy blood and bone marrow donors. Results Monovalent pollen allergy was observed in 57% (n = 68) of patients with pollinosis (57x grass pollen, 11x birch pollen), but only in 15% (n = 12) of patients with food allergy (9x grass pollen, 3x birch pollen). Hazelnut (71%), almond (65%), walnut (44%) and apple (41%) were the most common food allergens and frequently associated with birch pollen allergy. Grass pollen allergy was associated with an increased frequency of HLA-DQB1*0301 (RR = 2.3; EF = 0.4; P = 0.0016) when compared with the control population. HLA-DRB1*08 confered a sixfold higher risk for peanut allergy (EF = 0.3; P = 0.0013) and -DRB1*12 a 13-fold higher risk for carrot allergy (EF = 0.3; P |
