title: Immunodiagnosis of ABPA.
abstract: For the diagnosis of allergic aspergillosis demonstration of specific immune responses to allergens has been accepted as a significant paradigm. Elevated levels of total IgE and Aspergillus fumigatus specific IgE and IgG antibodies are important criteria for diagnosis of ABPA. Although reference antigens or standardized methods are not available, there are a number of relevant recombinant antigens, which have been isolated in recent years. Several techniques have been employed in the demonstration of specific antibodies against antigens of Aspergillus fumigatus in the sera of patients. Of these methods, the widely followed ones are ELISA, radioimmunoassay, Western blot, and agar gel double diffusion. Recently, semi-automated methods have been developed using recombinant allergens to detect circulating antibody against Aspergillus. However, these methods have not been evaluated widely. Here we review the immunodiagnostic methods currently in use for allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biochemistry and Diagnostics Division, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, CSIR, Mall Road, Near Jubilee Hall, Delhi 110007, India. u_sarma@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Usha P
authors.initials: UP
authors.lastname: Sarma
authors.forename: Viswanath P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Kurup
authors.forename: Taruna
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Madan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001229:Aspergillosis, Allergic Bronchopulmonary / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007159:Immunologic Tests / Q000379:methods*; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic / Q000382:microbiology; D012698:Serologic Tests / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic