Possible interaction among hypersensitivity to lipid tranfer proteins, chronic urticaria, and hypersensitivity reactions to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Sixteen (21%) of the 75 patients had histories of current or past CU and 7 (9%) of NSAID-induced urticaria. All 16 patients with a history of CU reported that spontaneous wheals were clearly unrelated to the ingestion of plant-derived foods. The ASST scored positive in 9 (82%) of the 11 patients who agreed to undergo such test. LTP-allergic patients showed a significantly higher prevalence of CU than atopic controls (21% vs 6%; p < 0.01), as well as a history of NSAID hypersensitivity that was 4 times more frequent (9% vs 2%). Nevertheless, due to low numbers, this difference did not attain the statistical significance. Interestingly, the gender distribution, prevalence of autoreactivity (as assessed by the ASST), and prevalence of NSAID hypersensitivity of LTP-allergic subjects were similar to those of CU controls.