Subjects:
Informed consent was obtained from all participants and the study
protocol was approved by the Western University Research Ethics Board
for human subjects (REB No. 11883E) as well as the London Health
Sciences Research Ethics Board. Three groups of individuals were
included in our research study. The first group consisted of patients
who had experienced a β-lactam antibiotic-induced SSLR. These
individuals developed symptoms highly suggestive of SSLR as a result of
β-lactam antibiotic administration. Overall, 19 β-lactam antibiotic
hypersensitive (BLHS) patients between the age of 7 and 77 years were
recruited. The patients’ symptoms are summarized in Table 1. PMBCs
isolated from each of these demonstrated dose-related toxicity in a
lymphocyte toxicity assay (LTA) assessing susceptibility to reactive
drug metabolites. The second study group consisted of 19 healthy
volunteers who have denied any history of drug hypersensitivity
reactions or exposure to beta-lactams.