Maia

I think you me get help from this link.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4062142#

Close, but not exactly what I meant.  That has normal ranges within the population; I'm looking for within-subject replicability.

Dear Maia Phillips Smith

May I suggest that you have a look at the SPC Summary of Product Charateristics for Xolair (Omalizumab). Omalizumab is intended for patients with convincing IgE (immunoglobulin E) mediated severe asthma. Omalizumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody manufactured by recombinant DNA technology. The clinical resonse of the treatment with Omalizumab is measured by means of IgE-levels during the treatment.

Maybe you also find information on the subject in the documentation for the substance Omalizumab.

Each individual responds differently, be treated with anti IgE or specific immunotherapy. Some patients even at the start of therapy may increase levels of IgE. Other patients IgE levels decrease after six months or a year of treatment.

Total IgE is a pool reflecting the activity of a great diversity of B cells, each one responding to a specific antigenic stimulus. You must remember that the great majority of the patients are polisensitized. However, not just allergens, but parasites may trigger these responses. While the patient is in contact with the antigen, the IgE production will go on. I use to monitor my allergic patients on immunotherapy (IT) with total and sIgE and have observed several types of patterns. With a well adjusted IT, the great majority respond with decreasing of the levels. If  during IT the levels keep stable or keep increasing it is a clue to reavaliate the sensitization and the IT composition. But there are patients that despite a good clinical response keep high levels of IgE. Everyway, higher levels of IgE are a sign to keep IT, otherwise the clinical symptoms will reappear following its interruption. But there are specific syndromes that will produce a great amount of IgE (Job's syndrome - Hyper IgE syndrome), that despite IT will never decrease. So, I will answer your question, saying that total IgE has little stability and usually varies over the months according with the antigenic experience of the subject.

Hi Maia,

total IgE is  mix of IgE. Would you be more interested in specific IgE? sIgE depending on exposure goes down in winter for pollen sIgE and up again when pollen are there. I expect for total not much change.

The person who does the measurements at the clinic is Prof. Ulf Darsow, "Prof.Dr.med.Ulf Darsow" , 089-41403463. Dermatology TUM. We are ZAUM and IAF (Institut für Allergieforschung, Helmholtz München)  and do sIgE.

Jeroen Buters

Total serum IgE are influenced by specific IgE serum levels, thus they are always changing . In patients with pollinosis, total serum IgE are higher after pollen season thus  confirming that patient has been exposed to the allergen. Similarly, in the days (usually 2 or 3) following an anaphylactic shock to a drug, you may have a boosted IgE response to the drug, with an increase of the specific IgE to the drug, influencing the whole pool of serum IgE (see: Boosted IgE response after anaphylaxis reaction to cefuroxime with cross-reactivity with cefotaxime. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2002 Jul;89(1):101-3.)

Dear Maia,

we do not have repeated measurements yet, but may be this abstract could help you a little bit further: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27039239