Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.
Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Associate Professor Anna Nopp, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
- Second opponent: Senior Consultant Torgeir Storaas, Haukeland University Hospital, Norway
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor Erik Dissen, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Associate Professor Ulla Randen, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Associate Professor Lise Sofie Haug Nissen-Meyer, University of Oslo
Summary
The aim of this PhD dissertation is to explore allergic sensitization among blood donors (BD), as well as to study the immunomodulatory effects of a mushroom extract (based on the mushroom Agaricus blazei Murill- AbM) on allergy and asthma. The thesis is based on four articles, two of which are randomized clinical trials where the effect of the AbM mushroom extract on asthma and allergy symptoms is explored, and two articles that describe Immunoglobulin-E (IgE) sensitization patterns in blood donors.
To study the AbM-extract effects on allergic disease, the first clinical trial was conducted on blood donors from the blood bank of Oslo University Hospital and the second trial on patients referred to the pulmonary department of Akershus University Hospital for allergen specific immunotherapy. The study population in both trials was divided into an intervention and a placebo group, and differences in clinical and patient reported outcomes were measured. As a conclusion no clear objective effect of the supplementation could be recorded.
The allergic sensitization among BD were studied in three groups, i) IgE in BD with self-reported pollen allergy, ii) IgE in randomly selected BD and iii) IgE in BD where the donated blood component led to an allergic transfusion reaction. All three groups indicated high occurrence of IgE antibodies in the population and sensitization to a significantly higher number of allergens (poly sensitization) in the BD group from the allergic transfusion reactions. It also calls for further investigation of the causes of allergic transfusion reactions and investigation of the transfusions from donors with high levels of IgE.
Additional information
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