Triticale allergy in a farmer

We present the case of a 29‐year‐old farmer with hay fever and atopic dermatitis since adolescence who had developed work‐related asthma about 5 years earlier. He was sensitized to grass pollen, wheat and rye flour, dust from the floors of the animal facilities (cows and pigs) and grain barn, and a battery of animal feed from his farm. Work‐relatedness of his asthma was demonstrated by serial measurements of spirometry and fractional exhaled nitric oxide at work and during a holiday. Immunoblot analyses revealed dominant IgE‐binding to grass pollen and triticale (a hybrid of rye and wheat). IgE inhibition experiments demonstrated that sensitization to triticale was not due to cross‐reactivity to grass pollen. Testing of specific IgE‐antibodies to recombinant wheat allergens showed sensitizations to profilin, peroxidase, and nonspecific lipid transfer proteins type I subfamily 9.1 and 9.7. We conclude that triticale allergy may occur as a distinct allergy in farmers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 59:501–505, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.