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Previous Volume 348:1046-1048 March 13, 2003 Number 11 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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About 80 years ago, Carl Prausnitz injected into his abdominal skin a small amount of serum from his colleague, Heinz Küstner. When Prausnitz subsequently ate some cooked fish to which Küstner (but not Prausnitz) was allergic, hives developed at the sites of injection.¹ This experiment, which nowadays would justifiably concern an institutional review board, clarified the fundamental basis of the mechanism of allergic reactions: a serum component (now known to be allergen-specific IgE) that is present in an allergic person but not in a nonallergic person combines with a receptor on mast cells and basophils (IgE receptor I). The reaction . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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From the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Bethesda, Md.

Related Letters:

Peanut Allergy
Ziegler J. B., Roth J. S., Matsui E. C., Wood R. A., Wilson D. H.B., Wilson S. M., Wilkin J. K., Pappas E. G., DeCamp W. H., Lack G., Northstone K., Golding J.
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N Engl J Med 2003; 349:301-303, Jul 17, 2003. Correspondence

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Ziegler, J. B., Roth, J. S., Matsui, E. C., Wood, R. A., Wilson, D. H.B., Wilson, S. M., Wilkin, J. K., Pappas, E. G., DeCamp, W. H., Lack, G., Northstone, K., Golding, J. (2003). Peanut Allergy. NEJM 349: 301-303 [Full Text]