title: A comparison of electrochemiluminescence and flow cytometry for the detection of natural latex-specific human immunoglobulin E.
abstract: In vitro correlates of type 1 hypersensitivity to natural latex (NL) proteins continue to be limited by both sensitivity and specificity. Methods which have detection limits in the picogram range, namely, radioallergosorbent assays (RAST) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), are inadequate for the identification of NL hypersensitivity in certain at-risk groups, such as health care workers. A flow cytometry assay (FCA), previously shown to be comparable to RAST and ELISA in the identification of NL-sensitized pediatric patients with spina bifida, was compared with electrochemiluminescence (ECL) in the evaluation of pediatric patients with spina bifida and NL-sensitized adult health care workers. As with RAST and ELISA, ECL is capable of detecting picogram amounts of specific analyte. The ECL assay detected NL-specific immunoglobulin E (NL-IgE) in three of six health care workers with strong histories of NL hypersensitivity. All six patients were negative by FCA. Further, 2 of 11 spina bifida patients found to be NL-IgE negative by FCA were NL-IgE positive by ECL. These findings suggest that in sensitivity the ECL assay is an improvement over the FCA for the identification of NL-sensitive individuals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia 19104, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kobrynski
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tanimune
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Pawlowski
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Douglas
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Campbell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000941:Antigens; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D007840:Latex / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology*; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008863:Microspheres; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016135:Spinal Dysraphism / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D007840:Latex; D007073:Immunoglobulin E