One of the leading roles in the structure of allergic diseases belongs to food allergies. One of the most common and affordable food in our society is a cow’s milk. One of the major allergens that contribute to the development of IgE-dependent allergy to milk is casein.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the frequency of sensitization both to cow’s milk and one of its major antigens — casein, depending on the age, and carried out by the first national ELISA test systems for the determination of IgE-antibodies to the above-mentioned allergens.
Materials and methods. We investigated the serum of 78 children between 5 months and 15 years old with allergic dermatitis. Determination of the levels of total IgE, specific IgE both to cow’s milk and casein in the serums was done by the first national ELISA test systems of fourth generation. We studied the age-distribution of the levels of specific IgE, calculatedKendall’s rank correlation coefficients.
Results. Diagnostically significant levels of IgE both to cow’s milk and casein were revealed in (23.1±4.8)% of patients. And the dynamics of their concentration as a function of age was almost identical. It was noted the decrease of the frequency of sensitization after 10 years. Direct (р<0.05) strong significant correlation link between the levels of specific IgE-antibodies to cow’s milk and casein was estimated (tau=0.763).
Conclusions. It is appropriate and promising to use the first national ELISA test systems of the fourth generation for the diagnosis of specific sensitization to cow’s milk and casein.