Does anyone have low IgE levels?

[Jackie M]

This immunoglobulin is mainly known for its part in facilitating allergic reactions. It isn't paid much attention to and most labs list values of 0 as acceptable, but research does find people with extremely low levels tend to have certain issues.

I had no measurable serum IgE the day after having a skin-prick test to 109 allergens, plus 2 positive control/histamine sticks, so you'd expect there to be at least a little IgE floating around. My doctor did say it was strange since most people have some IgE present in serum, but we didn't discuss it further (yet). My brother went in anaphylaxis when he was young -- the whites were oozing out of his eyes -- yet his IgE levels were not elevated which baffled the doctors.

When someone is low in IgE but all other Igs are normal, it is called Selective IgE deficiency. If you had an IgE allergy blood test, your total IgE levels were likely tested at the same time.

More info...
Regulation and dysregulation of immunoglobulin E: a molecular and clinical perspective
http://www.clinicalmolecularallergy.com/content/8/1/3

Major advancements have been made in our understanding of the molecular basis of IgE class switching including roles for T cells, cytokines and T regulatory (or Treg) cells in this process. Dysregulation of this process may result in either elevated IgE levels or IgE deficiency.

When compared to a sex and aged-matched control group from the same clinic with normal levels of IgE, these subjects were more likely to complain of arthralgias, chronic fatigue, and symptoms suggestive of airway infection. In addition, they had a significantly higher prevalence of autoimmune disease and, as previously noted, non-allergic reactive airway disease. Sixty-two percent of the IgE deficient patients had depressed levels of other immunoglobulins, most commonly IgG4; 38 percent had selective IgE deficiencies.

Clinical manifestations of IgE hypogammaglobulinemia
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9087159

Forty-four patients were found to have IgE levels of < 2.5 IU/mL; 57% of these had depressed serum levels of other immunoglobulins, and 43% had isolated IgE deficiencies. Respiratory symptoms were equally common in IgE-deficient patients and in patients with normal to elevated IgE levels. IgE-deficient patients, however, were more likely to complain of arthralgias (P < .0001), chronic fatigue (P < .0001), and symptoms suggestive of airway infection (P = .0119). Compared with controls, patients with IgE deficiency had a higher prevalence of autoimmune disease (46% versus 15%) (P < .0001) and nonallergic reactive airway disease (73% versus 20%) (P < .0001).

IgE deficiency: a forgotten disease?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20088451

Selective IgE deficiency is a profound deficiency (< 5 UI/mL) or absence of serum IgE levels without other immunologic abnormalities. It is usually asymptomatic, but may be associated with recurrent respiratory infections, chronic fatigue, and musculoskeletal complaints.

 

[taniaaust1]

Ive just found out out or normal range - low (or maybe nil) IgE levels. My total IgE level is <1.5 (normal level indicated by that lab is 1.5-158).

I get MCS, have had a major food reaction before (mouth swelling) and also get asthma. So I was shocked to see my IgE level low or maybe at nil.
..........

Here's some info which could be of interest.

IgE's main function is immunity to parasites such as parasitic worms[2] like Schistosoma mansoni, Trichinella spiralis, and Fasciola hepatica.[3][4][5] IgE may also be important during immune defense against certain protozoan parasites such as Plasmodium falciparum.[6]

There is much speculation into what physiological benefits IgE contributes, and, so far, circumstantial evidence in animal models and statistical population trends have hinted that IgE may be beneficial in fighting gut parasites such as Schistosoma mansoni, but this has not been conclusively proven in humans.

Epidemiological research shows that IgE level is increased when infected by Schistosoma mansoni,[14] Necator americanus,[15] and nematodes[16] in human. It is most likely beneficial in removal of hookworms from the lung.

Although it is not yet well understood, IgE may play an important role in the immune system’s recognition of cancer,[17] in which the stimulation of a strong cytotoxic response against cells displaying only small amounts of early cancer markers would be beneficial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunoglobulin_E
............................

IgE is responsible for an allergic response consisting mast cell degranulation and histamine release

My uncle has mastocytosis (severe mast cell disorder) and I have some of the genes involved in that and have had other symptoms which strongly point to me possibly having a mast cell disorder. I wonder if having low or no IgE would help prevent me from developing masto? or avoiding the severe reactions seen in it?

............

I cant find it now but yesterday, I thought it was on a wiki page titled low IgE but cant find it now, if anyone comes across a wiki page on low IgE please can you share the link. It talked about how this is found in some genetic disorders including in Ataxia telangiectasia (which I certainly dont have). Im really now wanting to know what other genetic disorders it appears in.

 

[taniaaust1]

Related disorders — Low serum levels of IgE can accompany well-defined immune deficiency diseases, including common variable immunodeficiency, immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclass deficiencies, ataxia-telangiectasia, and Bruton's hypogammaglobulinemia

Looks interesting but unfortunately one needs to prescribe to get more of the article http://www.uptodate.com/contents/selective-ige-deficiency
..............

http://ainotes.wikispaces.com/file/view/Selective IgE deficiency, immune dysregulation, and autoimmunity - Asthma All Proc 2014.pdf Is a huge study done on IgE deficiency,. very interesting as it has a list of diseases they looked at how those who have this deficiency compared to numbers having the disease to a control group.
Page 4 of the pdf is results for ages 12years and over (adults). Kind of scary when one sees the increase in all those diseases compared to controls.

eg chronic sinusitis 25.9% of ones with IgE deficiency had, Control group was 3.1% (I used to get)
otittis media (ear infection) 6.3% , control group was 0.3% (I get this as one of ME symptoms)
Hashimoto's thyroiditis 14.6%, control group was 1.3%

Grave's disease 5.7% .. control group was 0.5%
Pernicious anemia 6.9% , control group was 0.6%
Chronic urticaria 19%, control group, control group was 0.8% (Ive had urticaria/hives a few times too)
Psoriasis 8.2% compared to 1.8% (I possibly getting issues with that, Ive got some skin problem)
Seborrheic dermatitis 3.8% compared to 1.2%.

Fibromyalgia 4.4%, control group was only 0.3%.
Type 1 diabetes 2.5% (4 people with IgE deficiency) .. no type 1 diabetes in control group
Addison's disease 1.3 (2 people) .. none in control group.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 3.8% (6 people) , .control group 0.3% (1 case) . So are we 6 times more likely to get ME/CFS if we have IgE deficiency???

Epithelial cancers 4.4% , control group 1.1%
lymphoma 3.1%, control group 0.3%
Multiple myeloma 1.3% (2 people), control group had none.
Myeloprolifeative disease 1.3% (2 people), control group none.

Scary list.. if you think of the percentages of ones getting horrible stuff there, you are more likely then not to get something bad.

 

[taniaaust1]

If genetic, maybe this gene is involved http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/2208

Official Symbol
FCER2
Also known as
CD23; FCE2; CD23A; IGEBF; CLEC4J; BLAST-2
Summary
The protein encoded by this gene is a B-cell specific antigen, and a low-affinity receptor for IgE. It has essential roles in B cell growth and differentiation, and the regulation of IgE production. This protein also exists as a soluble secreted form, then functioning as a potent mitogenic growth factor. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been described for this gene.[provided by RefSeq, Jul 2011]
.........

Im not finished going throu all my gene mutations pulled out from my 24andME results by Valentijns program but if I ever get around to it, I'll going to go throu and see if I have got a mutation of this.

(maybe there are other genes involved too in IgE production but the FCER2 one kept coming up).

 

[Gondwanaland]

(maybe there are other genes involved too in IgE production but the FCER2 one kept coming up).

I see many differences between my husband's SNPs and mine, plus DH has one no call.

 

[taniaaust1]

FCER2
Also known as
CD23

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCER2

"In flow cytometry, CD23 is helpful in the differentiation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CD23-positive) from mantle cell leukemia (CD23-negative" ". Lymphomas arising from the mantle zone are generally negative for CD23, but most B-cell chronic lymphomocytic leukaemias and low-grade B-cell lymphomas are positive, allowing immunohistochemistry to distinguish these conditions, which otherwise have a similar appearance"

I guess that could mean that if someone has a mutation in this and isnt able to produce CD23 and was unluckly enough to get B-cell lymphoma, the doctors could mistakening give the wrong diagnoses and end up thinking the person has Lymphoma of mantle zone instead. I guess that may be a bad mistake if different treatment was involved.

"Diseases associated with FCER2 include chronic conjunctivitis, and intrinsic asthma" genecard info. I do have intrinsic asthma actually and my daughter used to get chronic conjunctivitis. It does like I probably have this mutation. I just learnt something new, I didnt know what intrinstic asthma was till I looked that up just now, I just thought I have asthma. My ME viral flares set off the asthma so that makes it of this intrinsic kind mentioned.

Looking like I may be on right tract thinking FCER2 mutation is cauisng low IgE in my case (just got to prove it to myself by finding it in my gene results)..

Knowing ones genetics is very helpful in certain situations.
....................

I see many differences between my husband's SNPs and mine, plus DH has one no call.

No call just means they had trouble getting the result for that one due to the sample.

Its the less common mutation SNPs which can really start to show up stuff. (Im finding all kinds of things making sense to me throu these mutations once I started looking up things.

Do u want link to Valentijns program? (I saw it posted at this site today in thread), so you can put your 23andME raw data results into that to show you the ones you have which only 10% or less of people have, more uncommon ones. From there you can just look the gene numbers up and find the name of the gene to be able to look it up what it does. www.genecards.org which is a gene database is a good place to look up the numbers and things.

*Not all the rs numbers which come up are genes just some of them (about 40-50%).
..........

eg Valentijns program shows me I have a double mutation of rs17733255 . When I look that up at genecards it tells me this is called XYLB and that its assoc. with lyme disease and influenza. (my symptoms match lyme disease but my tests which werent the best ones come back negative..so who knows).

 

[Gondwanaland]

Do u want link to Valentijns program?

I have been meaning to do it for a long time but never get around to actually doing it

If there is a thread about this gene i will be happy to list our SNPs.