Publications Database

Research on alpha-gal syndrome (AGS)

With this publications database, we hope to consolidate all the peer-reviewed research on alpha-gal syndrome. Some gray literature and relevant government, industry, and nonprofit documents were included. Please report errors or omissions to [email protected].

Thanks to Lee Ann Kendrick, Matthew von Hendy, and John Bianchi of Revivicor for their assistance with the initial creation of this database. 

 

 Key words

Key words were added to help providers find relevant papers. For example:

  • Specialties:  e.g. “gastroenterology” “rheumatology” “cardiology”
  • Regions: e.g. “Africa” “Spain”
  • Medical products: e.g. “biologic” “vaccine”
  • Special topics:  e.g. “perioperative” “vector” “prevalence” “epidemiology” “dairy”
  • Hundreds of other key words

 Topics

In addition to alpha-gal syndrome, the database includes select publications on related topics, including:

  • pork-cat syndrome and other mammalian meat allergies
  • other carbohydrate allergies
  • cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants
  • the role of ecto- and endoparasites in inducing food allergy
  • vector management and ecology
  • the evolution of the α-gal immune response
  • allergy and autoimmune disease
  • hypersensitivity reactions to biologics
  • co-factors
  • idiopathic anaphylaxis
  • airborne reactions to food allergens
  • carrageenan
  • mammalian byproducts
  • cross-contamination of meat products, and other relevant food and food industry issues
  • viral glycan shields
  • drugs and vaccines employing the α-gal immune response
  • xenotransplantation and the development of alpha-gal knock-out species

Stars indicate publications flagged as important or of interest in one or more review articles by Commins SP, Hilger C, Platts-Mills TAE, and van Nunen S, and/or deemed as such by the database manager.

* of interest
** of significant interest
† of special relevance to emergency care/perioperative care/hospitalization/pharmacy
‡ of special relevance to diagnosis and management
§ key review articles

Note that these designations were used for older papers and are not up-to-date.

 What’s New

Recent highlights:

Case summary: A 74-year-old man undergoing valve and ascending aortic replacement experienced hemodynamic collapse after transfusion of heparin, fresh frozen plasma, and platelets. Transfusion reaction, cardiogenic shock, and sepsis were ruled out. Recovery occurred within 6 hours of medical treatment. After an otherwise uncomplicated hospitalization, he was diagnosed with AGS and treated with diet restriction and omalizumab.

Discussion and take-home messages: In addition to anaphylaxis, AGS may also have long-term cardiovascular effects such as early bioprosthetic valve failure, accelerated atherosclerosis, and coronary artery disease. Understanding of clinical subtleties of AGS and its cardiovascular implications is important for clinicians who manage these patients both in the short and long terms.

All the information on alphagalinformation.org is provided in good faith, but we, the creators and authors of the Alpha-gal Information website offer no representation or warranty, explicit or  implied, of the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this site. Under no circumstances should we have any liability for any loss or damage incurred by you as a result of relying on information provided here. We are not physicians or medical professionals, researchers, or experts of any kind. Information provided in this website may contain errors and should be confirmed by a physician. Information provided here is not medical advice. It should not be relied upon for decisions about diagnosis, treatment, diet, food choice, nutrition, or any other health or medical decisions. For advice about health or medical decisions including, but not limited to, diagnosis, treatment, diet, and health care consult a physician.
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