INVOLVEMENT OF MAST-CELLS IN SUDDEN-INFANT-DEATH-SYNDROME

Citation
Ms. Platt et al., INVOLVEMENT OF MAST-CELLS IN SUDDEN-INFANT-DEATH-SYNDROME, Journal of allergy and clinical immunology, 94(2), 1994, pp. 250-256
Citations number
37
Categorie Soggetti
Immunology,Allergy
ISSN journal
00916749
Volume
94
Issue
2
Year of publication
1994
Pages
250 - 256
Database
ISI
SICI code
0091-6749(1994)94:2<250:IOMIS>2.0.ZU;2-I
Abstract
The pathogenesis of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is elusive and probably multifactorial. The occurrence of mast cell activation in SI DS was assessed in this study by measuring concentrations of tryptase, a neutral protease produced mainly by mast cells, in postmortem sera from term infants with SIDS and from age-matched control infants who d ied unexpectedly at home from a known-cause. Tryptase levels were sign ificantly higher in the 50 infants with SIDS than in the 15 control in fants (p = 0.0004). Forty percent of the infants with SIDS and none of the control infants had a tryptase level greater than 10 ng/ml, the t hreshold chosen to indicate premortem mast cell activation. An infant with SIDS had a 20-fold higher chance of having an elevated tryptase l evel compared with a control infant. The postmortem interval did not i nfluence these results. Thus mast cell-mediated anaphylaxis is likely to be the pathogenetic mechanism involved in some but not all SIDS cas es. Recognition of this pathway as operative in SIDS should facilitate a more precise identification of the allergens involved, the processe s leading to mast cell activation, and procedures to identify those in fants at risk for anaphylaxis, and should, in time, lead to better the rapeutic interventions aimed at preventing this specific cause of SIDS .