Quantitation of specific igg, iga, and igm antibodies directed against four species of basidiomycetes

Abstract Specific IgG, IgA, and IgM antibodies to aqueous extracts of Coprinus quadrifidus, Pleurotus ostreatus, Calvatia cyathiformis, and Psilocybe cubensis were assessed using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in basidiomycete radioallergosorbent test (RAST) positive atopics (Gr 1), RAST negative atopics (Gr 2), and RAST negative, non-atopics (Gr 3). ELISA values are presented as mean optical density ± sem. For C. quadrifidus, elevated specific IgA levels (0.33 ± 0.08, p=0.02) were shown in Gr 1, as compared with Gr 2 (0.129 ± 0.04) and Gr 3 (0.163 ± 0.02). For P. ostreatus, specific IgA levels (0.534 ± 0.15) were also elevated (p=0.003) in Gr 1, when compared with Gr 2 (0.389 ± 0.01) and Gr 3 (0.121 ± 0.03). For C. cyathiformis and P. cubensis, specific IgA levels in Gr 1 were higher than those in Gr 2 and Gr 3, however, these were not significantly elevated. For P. cubensis, specific IgM levels were elevated (p=0.03) in Gr 2 (0.666 ± 0.081) when compared with Gr 1 (0.505 ± 0.056) and Gr 3 ...