Allergen Extracts for In Vivo Diagnosis and Treatment of Allergy: Is There a Future?

Publication date: Available online 5 October 2018Source: The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In PracticeAuthor(s): Rudolf Valenta, Alexander Karaulov, Verena Niederberger, Yury Zhernov, Olga Elisyutina, Raffaela Campana, Margarete Focke-Tejkl, Mirela Curin, Leyla Namazova-Baranova, Jiu-Yao Wang, Ruby Paw.ar, Musa KhaitovToday, in vivo allergy diagnosis and allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) are still based on allergen extracts obtained from natural allergen sources. Several studies analyzing the composition of natural allergen extracts have shown severe problems regarding their quality such as the presence of undefined nonallergenic materials, contaminants as well as high variabilities regarding contents and biological activity of individual allergens. Despite the increasing availability of sophisticated analytical technologies, these problems cannot be overcome because they are inherent to allergen sources and methods of extract production. For in vitro allergy diagnosis problems related to natural allergen extracts have been largely overcome by the implementation of recombinant allergen molecules that are defined regarding purity and biological activity. However, no such advances have been made for allergen preparations to be used in vivo for diagnosis and therapy. No clinical studies have been performed for allergen extracts available for in vivo allergy diagnosis that document safety, sensitivity, and specificity of the products. Only for very few thera...
Source: The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice - Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research