Loading...
Files
Date
2025-10-21
Authors
Publisher
Philipps-Universität Marburg
item.page.supervisor-of-thesis
Abstract
Insect stings by bees or wasps, both belonging to the species of hymenoptera, are one of the most common causes for immediate type allergic reactions. Symptoms vary, but in the worst case, they can lead to an anaphylactic shock. Thus, it is important to utilize reliable tests for diagnosing insect venom aller-gies. Affected patients are provided with an emergency kit, as well as access to a causal allergy therapy known as allergen specific immunotherapy (AIT). Through this treatment, allergic patients receive repeated injections of initially increasing doses of allergen, leading to allergen tolerance. In case of insect venom allergy this therapy may be lifesaving.
In this pilot study an electronic device, the electronic nose, also called eNose was used to examine the exhaled breath from allergic subjects. The aim was to find out whether it is possible to differentiate them from healthy controls. The eNose recognizes small particles from the exhaled breath called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The process is based on a reaction of the particles with polymer sensors inside the eNose. The elicited chemical reaction is translated into an electrical signal, which is measured by a change in electrical resistance. Through that classic patterns are created, which are valued by mathematical analyses. As a significant result a Mahalanobis distance (MD) from 1,96 was predefined.
In this study 16 subjects with history of insect venom allergy participated. They were diagnosed by a positive history of an allergic sting reaction and a positive skin test reaction or the proof of allergen-specific IgE antibodies. Healthy con-trols showed a negative history for insect venom allergy. Exclusion criteria were especially the presence of chronic pulmonary diseases, smoking or positive history for respiratory allergies.
There was no significant discrimination of the two groups by the eNose. Only a tendency for distinguishing both cohorts was measured (MD 1,141; sensitivi-ty 81 %). In a further analysis considering the specific IgE levels for bee and/or wasp venom the difference became more distinct, but was still not significant (MD 1,361; sensitivity 80 %).
Thus, only a non-significant difference between the exhalated breath of insect venom allergy individuals and non-allergic controls could be detected by eNose.
The eNose is not a practical tool for diagnosing insect venom allergies in clinical practice. However, it might serve scientific purposes. Limiting factors are especially the high sensitiveness for cofounders like other inadvertent olfactory particles but also the application in clinical practice would be challenging.
Further comprehensive studies are recommended to investigate parameters which might influence the eNose results.
Review
Metadata
Contributors
Supervisor:
Dates
Created: 2025Issued: 2025-10-21Updated: 2025-10-21
Faculty
Medizin
Language
ger
Data types
DoctoralThesis
Keywords
volatile organic compoudselektronische Naseallergyelectronic noseAllergiediagnostik
DFG-subjects
eNoseAllergiediagnostik,elektronische NaseVOCsHymenopterengiftallergie
DDC-Numbers
610
show more
Richter, Maria Walburga: Detektion einer Hymenopterengiftallergie durch eine elektronische Nase (eNose). : Philipps-Universität Marburg 2025-10-21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17192/z2025.0462.
License
This item has been published with the following license: In Copyright