Evaluation of Pharmacia CAP System FEIA for House Dust Mites in Patients with Atopic Dermatitis / 대한피부과학회지

BACKGROUND: Specific serum IgE determination is widely used in the diagnosis of IgE-mediated allergic diseases. House dust mite allergens are known to show good sensitivity on in vitro tests. We report the results of specific IgE against house dust allergen by Pharmacia CAP system FEIA and compared them with those of in vivo test. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to find out the clinical application of Pharmacia CAP system FEIA in atopic dermatitis. METHODS: In 46 atopic dermatitis patients, skin prick test and Pharmacia CAP system FEIA were performed for Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Dermatophagoides farinae allergens. For all patients, atopy and family histories were taken. RESULTS: The positive results were more frequent in adult patients(over 16 years old, 73.3%) than in child patients(below 15 years old, 38.7%) in skin prick test for both Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Dermatophagoides farinae allergens. When skin prick tests were used as a reference standard, the sensitivity of Pharmacia CAP system FEIA was 89.5% for Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and 90.0% for Dermatophagoides farinae, and the specificity of Pharmacia CAP system FEIA was 77.8% for Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and 80.8% for Dermatophagoides farinae. Correlations were found between Pharmacia CAP system FEIA results and serum total IgE (r=0.574 for Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and r=0.534 for Dermatophagoides farinae). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that Pharmacia CAP system FEIA offers high sensitivity and can be an effective method of screening for allergies to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Dermatophagoides farinae in atopic dermatitis.

Comparison of Pharmacia CAP system and Auro Dex(R) Visual ENS(TM) screening test for detecting specific IgE in atopic patients / 천식및알레르기

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Auro Dex(R) Visual ENS(TM) allergy screening test is a simplified and newly developed method for the detection of allergen-specific IgE in human serum. This system has advantages in several ways compared to the Pharmacia CAP system, such as the need for relatively small amounts of serum, no expensive equipment and rapid detection. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of Auro Dex(R) Visual ENS(TM) screening test for the detection of specific IgE compared to the Pharmacia CAP system in atopic patients. METHOD: In 27 atopic patients (M:F = 11:16, age:13-51 years, average 27.9+/-10.2 years) who had positive response on skin prick test, the Pharmacia CAP system for the sensitized allergen and Auro Dex(R) Visual ENS(TM) screening test were performed. For comparison, 5 normal subjects who had negative response on skin prick test were tested for 5 allergens(Dermatophagoides(D) farinae, D. pteronyssinus, cockroach, dog epithelium, cat epithelium) by the Pharmacia CAP system and Auro Dex(R) Visual ENS(TM) screening test. RESULTS: Using skin prick test results as the reference standards, the sensitivity of the Pharmacia CAP system and Auro Dex(R) Visual ENS(TM) screening test was 87.5%, 57.1%, respectively. The specificity of Pharmacia CAP system and Auro Dex(R) Visual ENS(TM) screening test were 100%. There was a significant correlation between the Auro Dex(R) Visual ENS(TM) and CAP system (D.f. r=0.755, D.p. r=0.856) for D. farinae and D.pteronyssinus. CONCLUSION: Auro Dex(R) Visual ENS(TM) screening test showed high specificity for detection of allergen-specific IgE and good correlation with the Pharmacia CAP system. This system may be useful in general practice. However, due to relatively low sensitivity to some antigens compared to skin prick test, further development may be necessary.