COMPARATIVE-STUDY BETWEEN EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN SPECIES OF POLISTES USING SERA FROM EUROPEAN SENSITIZED SUBJECTS

Although the different vespid species of the genus Polistes are found all over the world, studies about allergy sensitization to these speci es have been made mainly in North America. We studied the specific IgE in a large group of sera from patients sensitized to Polistes dominul us (PD) and determined the crossreactivity with another important Euro pean Polistes (P. gallicus [PG]) and with five American relevant speci es of this genus: P. exclamans (PE), P. fuscatus (PF), P. metricus (PM ), P. annularis (PAN) and P. apachus (PAP). Studies indicated that 96. 7% of sera with IgE positive to PD were positive to PG. No case positi ve to just PG was found. The comparison of these two European species with the American relatives indicated that most cases were positive to all the insects although there were significant differences in the ra dioallergosorbent test (RAST) value. These results were confirmed by P AST inhibition studies, and indicate that although the European and Am erican species are closely related, species specific allergenic differ ences exist. These data suggest that in vivo studies should be carried out in order to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the Euro pean venoms compared with the American species.