抄録
熊本県のプリンスメロン栽培者の中に, プリンスメロン果実表面産毛による職業性気管支喘息と思われる症例を見いだし, 本症例は, (1)ハウス内でプリンスメロン果実を取り扱う時のみに喘息発作が起こること, (2)メロン抗原皮内反応陽性であること, (3)鼻内誘発試験陽性であること, (4)RAST法により特異的IgE抗体が証明されたことなどから, I型アレルギーによる職業性喘息と診断した.さらに他抗原との共通抗原性を一般アレルギー患者皮内反応により検討し, ダニ抗原が疑われたが, 寒天免疫拡散法, RAST inhibition testにより否定された.またマスクメロン, スイカ, プリンスメロンそれぞれの実と皮についての共通抗原性を検討した結果, 抗メロン血清を用いた寒天免疫拡散法ではマスクメロン, プリンスメロン, スイカそれぞれの実と皮に共通抗原は認められたが, 皮内反応およびRAST inhibition testでは, スイカの実と皮は陰性であった.
The, "Prince Melon", a sort of honey dew, is intensively cultivated in the Kumamoto district. We found a patient who was involved in the cultivations of the melons and who had suffered from asthmatic attacks every spring season for 7 years. The season when the attacks took place was coincident with the melon-harvest time but not the flowering season. Antigen extraction was performed from the hair-like substances of the melon skin. Skin test threshold of the patient was 10^<-10> dilution. Provocation test was positive. RAST value of the patient's serum was extremely high, and the value was markedly lowered by preincubation of the serum with uncoupled original antigen. Rabbit antiserum to the melon extract showed 2 precipitating lines to the antigen by agar immunodiffusion. Results of routine skin test including the melon to all the other patients who visited our clinic indicated relative coincidence of the positive skin test to the melon and mite antigen. However, by the melon RAST inhibition test and agar immunodiffusion test with the mite, no inhibition or cross-reactivity was observed. The results show that the asthmatic attacks were provoked by Type I allergy of inhaled melon skin substance. Cross-reactivity among the "Prince Melon", watermelon, and muskmelon was observed by agar immunodiffusion, skin test and RAST inhibition test.
