Effect of Cortisone on Passively Induced Skin Hypersensitivity in Man

Abstract

Positive Prausnitz-Kustner reactions were consistently demonstrated in recipients passively sensitized with sera from 2 hypersensitive donors who had been treated for serum sickness and hay fever, respectively, with cortisone. Positive Prausnitz-Kustner reactions were similarly demonstrated in cortisone-treated recipients passively sensitized with sera of the cortisone-treated donors. In none of the recipients did the addition of cortisone locally, combined with the antigen employed in performing the skin test, reverse the reaction. There was no significant difference in the Prausnitz-KQstner reactions of those recipients tested before and during treatment with cortisone. In these expts. cortisone did not influence passively induced skin hypersensitivity of the wheal and erythema type.