Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks allergies as the fourth most common chronic disease. Food allergie, defined as adverse immune reactions to food proteins, is an important public health problem that affects adults and children and may be increasing in prevalence. The aim of our study is to present the biological profile of children consulting for food allergy problems. Materials and methods: Retrospective descriptive study, spread over a period of 29 months. Concerning 177 children consulting for type I hypersensitivity problems at the CHU Ibn Rochd. Results: 109 children (61.5%) had sensitization to at least one trophallergen. It was more frequent in boys than in girls (54% vs 46%) without statistically significant difference (p= 0.27). The most frequent food allergens in our series were: sesame 21.47%, cow’s milk 20.90%, egg white 19.21%, crab 18.08%, beef 16.38%, casein 12.43%. Total IgE was ordered for 46 patients with a median of 202.3 KU, L. 30 (65%) children had elevated total IgE and 16 (35%) children had normal total IgE, with an increase in median total IgE concentration with the number of specific IgE to which a child is sensitized. Conclusion: Our study showed a high prevalence of sensitization to food allergens in children. Larger and more in-depth studies are needed to better understand the risk factors and mechanisms underlying food allergy in children in order to develop more effective and personalized prevention and treatment strategies.

Introduction: Western-blot was the first technique used to confirm the presence of anti-HIV antibodies. We aim to analyze the different profiles of the HIV western-blot (WB) test and assess their association with the different clinical and immunological stages of infection. Methods: Retrospective study included 688 cases of HIV infection confirmed by WB (HIV BLOT 2.2, MP Diagnostics), at the immunology medical analysis laboratory in collaboration with the infectious diseases department at the CHU Ibn Rochd, between January 2019 and December 2020. For the analysis of the results of the WB profiles, we adopted the interpretation criteria of the WHO (World Health Organization). Results: HIV-1 complete profile (PC: GP160, GP120, P66, P55, P51, GP41, P39, P31, P24, P17) was noted in 41.52% of cases. While 58.04% presented an incomplete HIV-1 profile. P39 was missing in 42.98% of cases, compared to 25.73% for P17, and 28.07%, 15.78%, 7.6%, 6.43%, 1.46%, %0.73% for P55, GP 51, P66, P31, GP24, GP41 respectively. A statistically significant relationship between the clinically advanced stages of HIV infection and the absence of P17, P55 and P39 antibodies in the WB test has been determined. Conclusion: WB profile during HIV infection may be useful in predicting the stages of HIV-positive patients in situations where the assay of CD4 count and viral load are not available.

Objective: To evaluate the correlation between total anti-Hbc antibody seropositivity and anti-nuclear antibody seropositivity, in order to prove an association between hepatitis B virus infection and the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Material and methods: Retrospective case-control study, conducted in the immunology department of CHU Ibn Rochd of Casablanca from January 2017 to January 2022, evaluating the results of the analyses of 1099 patients, in whom a search for antinuclear antibodies was simultaneously carried out with the search for Hbs antigen and total anti-Hbc antibodies. The patients were divided into two groups. A control group with 937 Hbs antigen and Hbct antibody negative patients and a case group with 162 patients positive for total anti-Hbc antibody. Testing for antinuclear antibodies was performed by indirect immunofluorescence on slides sensitised with Hep-2 cells. Hbs antigen and total anti-Hbc antibodies were tested by automated immunochemiluminescence. Results: We obtained a seroprevalence of anti-nuclear antibodies of 40.75% in the case group and 22% in the control group (P <0.0001). No statistically significant difference between the two groups in the frequency distribution of fluorescence patterns in antinuclear antibodies positive patients was observed (P = 0.617). Conclusion: Our study, in correlation with various literature data, affirms an established association between hepatitis B virus and various autoimmune diseases.

Autoimmune diseases are marked by the presence of more or less specific autoantibodies for each of them. The detection and identification of these autoantibodies seem to be the pillars of the diagnosis. The aim of our study is to evaluate the ELISA technique compared to the immunodot, for the detection of extractable nuclear antigens antibodies Sm, SSA and SSB. This is a retrospective, comparative study of biological diagnostic techniques carried out over 6 months. 86 sera from patients tested by the immunodot for the detection of extractable nuclear antigens antibodies were analyzed by an ELISA test (AESKULISA) for the detection of anti-Sm, anti-SSA and anti-SSB antibodies. Sensitivities, specificities, PPVs, NPVs and the correlation index were calculated respectively for each of the three kits AESKULISA Sm (57.14%, 97.46%, 66.6%, 97.46%, 94%), AESKULISA SSA (53.84 %, 97.87%, 95.45%, 71.87%, 77.90%) and AESKULISA SSB (16.66%, 100%, 100%, 81.92%, 82.55%). Our study found low levels of sensitivity of the ELISA technique compared to the immunodot, which could be explained by the nature of the antigenic substrates, the coating procedures and the cut-off levels used by kits manufacturers. The immunodot appears to be more sensitive and more specific for the detection of anti-SSB antibodies and more sensitive for the detection of anti-SSA 52kDa antibodies. Indeed, a combination of two or more methods is to be recommended in order to optimize the relevance of the diagnostic test for the screening of anti-ENA antibodies.