A man who wasn’t allergic to kiwi fruit acquired his sister’s allergy after she donated bone marrow to him, in the first proven case of an allergy being transferred by such a transplant.
After the 46-year-old patient discovered the allergy, scientists were able to trace it to cells donated by his sister during the procedure.
When somebody has an allergic reaction – usually the result of the immune system mistakenly fighting something harmless such as food or dust – it’s the blood cells that cause the body to react badly, and most blood cells are formed in bone marrow.
Experimental testing
After the leukemia patient exhibited symptoms of an allergic reaction, which include tingling and swelling of the lips, mouth and/or throat, experts first identified which cells were causing the reaction, and then used a technique known as fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) to confirm that these cells had originated from his sister’s bone marrow transplant.
The study on the case, which was published in the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, not only proved the previously suspected possibility transfer of allergies during bone marrow transplants, but also laid out a platform for future study of the phenomenon.
“Our experimental approach using customized kiwi extract to prove contribution of kiwi-specific T and B cells in both kiwi-allergic recipient and donor could serve as a model approach for future studies,” the authors said.
Other procedures, such as blood transfusions, can in rare cases cause allergies to be passed between patients. In 2015, an eight-year-old Canadian boy became severely allergic to fish and peanuts after receiving a blood transfusion, however in most instances the allergies disappear as the active allergy cells are gradually replaced. Bone marrow transplants, however, could result in more permanent allergies.
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