Immunoglobulins in nasal secretion with special reference to IgE. I. Methodological studies.

Different ways of collecting relatively large volumes of nasal secretion with as physiological a composition as possible were studied. Nasal secretion was collected by the so-called nasal spray washing method from 5 patients with allergic rhinitis due to pollen and 5 healthy persons during a pollen-free season. The collection was performed without any provocation and following nasal provocation with histamine or allergen solution. With the radioimmunosorbent test, in which the lower limit of measurement was 0.1 units/ml, IgE could be quantified in 52 of 60 analysed secretions. IgA, IgG and albumin were demonstrated in all secretions. In the allergic patients, following histamine and allergen provocation, a relative increase in the concentration of IgE and albumin and a significant decrease of the IgA/albumin ratio in nasal secretion was found. In the healthy subjects, such changes in the secretion were observed only after histamine provocation. Calculations also suggested some local production of IgE, but not at all of the same order of magnitude as of IgA.