The Quantification of IgG Specific to alpha-Gal Could Be Used as a Risk Marker for Suffering Mammalian Meat Allergy

The alpha-Gal Syndrome is a delayed meat allergy characterized by the presence of sIgE against alpha-Gal epitope. It is known that the alpha-Gal present in tick saliva induces the sensitization to this epitope ending in the production of sIgG and sIgE to alpha-Gal. It could be considered that the more times a person is bitten by tick species, the higher the probability of making the switch from sIgG to sIgE to alpha-Gal and developing allergy, but it is no clear when the switch occurs. To determine the likelihood that a subject bitten by ticks but without AGS be at risk of developing this allergy, we quantified the levels of sIgG to alpha-Gal by an automated system (ImmunoCap). To stablish a cut-off value for sIgG to alpha-Gal, a receiving operating curve (ROC) was constructed. The statistical analysis demonstrated that the risk of suffering AGS in individuals bitten by ticks was 35% when the sIgG to alpha-Gal was greater than or equal to 40 mu g/mL. Our data indicate that the sIgG values against alpha-Gal could be used as a prognostic marker for developing mammalian meat allergy.