Erratum: The Functional IgE-Blocking Factor Induced by Allergen-Specific Immunotherapy Correlates with IgG4 Antibodies and a Decrease of Symptoms in House Dust Mite-Allergic Children

<b><i>Background:</i></b> At present, there are no validated biomarkers reflecting or predicting the clinical efficacy of allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) . We aimed to investigate the correlations between clinical and immunological responses of patients undergoing house dust mite (HDM) AIT. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Sixty-nine children diagnosed with HDM allergic rhinitis and/or asthma received standardized <i>Dermatophagoides</i><i>pteronyssinus</i> (Dp) subcutaneous AIT for 12 months. Twenty HDM-allergic children served as an open control group. Clinical symptom and medication scores were recorded and Dp-specific IgE, IgG4 and IgE-blocking factor were measured before AIT and after 4 and 12 months of AIT. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Symptom scores decreased after 4 months and continued to decrease during 12 months of AIT. No differences in medication scores were observed between AIT and the control group during the study period. Levels of Dp IgG4 increased after 4 months and correlated to symptom scores at 12 months (r = -0.296, p = 0.013) of AIT. The Dp IgE-blocking factor increased after 4 months of AIT, and correlated with symptom scores at 4 months (r = -0.307, p = 0.010) and 12 months (r = -0.288, p = 0.016) of AIT. A strong correlation between Dp IgE-blocking factor and Dp IgG4 during AIT (4 months: r = 0.680; 12 months: r = 0.636, both p < 0.0001) was observed. Patients with IgE-blocking factor ≥0.2 after 4 months of AIT showed lower symptom scores at 12 months of AIT (p = 0.0093). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Subcutaneous HDM AIT results in a decrease of allergic symptoms among HDM-allergic children. IgE-blocking activity increased after 4 months of AIT and correlated with clinical symptoms. A high IgE-blocking factor at an early stage of AIT is associated with fewer symptoms at a later stage of AIT

Supplementary Material for: Proteomic Analysis of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Compared with Normal Adjacent Pancreatic Tissue and Pancreatic Benign Cystadenoma

<p><i>Background:</i> Dual expression of potential biomarkers in both benign and malignant pancreatic tumors was a major obstacle in the development of diagnostic biomarkers of early pancreatic cancer. <i>Methods:</i> To better understand the limitations of potential protein biomarkers in pancreatic cancer, we employed two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis technology and tandem mass spectrometry to study protein expression profiles in pancreatic cancer tissues, benign pancreatic adenoma and normal adjacent pancreas. Seven differently expressed proteins were selected for validation by Western blot and/or immunohistochemistry. <i>Results:</i> 21 spots were overexpressed and 24 spots were downexpressed in pancreatic cancer compared with benign and normal adjacent tissues. Our study demonstrated that three candidate pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma biomarkers identified in previous studies, fructose-bisphosphate aldolase A, α-smooth muscle actin and vimentin, were also overexpressed in pancreatic cystadenoma, which might lower their further utility as biomarkers for pancreatic cancer. Aflatoxin B₁ aldehyde reductase (AKR7A2) was confirmed to be only highly expressed in pancreatic cancer, not in normal adjacent pancreas and benign tumors. <i>Conclusions:</i> The protein profile pattern of pancreatic cystadenoma was more similar to normal adjacent pancreas than pancreatic cancer. We identified panels of the upregulated proteins in pancreatic cancer, which have not been reported in prior proteomic studies. AKR7A2 may be a novel potential biomarker for pancreatic cancer.</p