Performance of the PROTIA™ Allergy-Q® System in the Detection of Allergen-specific IgE: A Comparison With the ImmunoCAP® System.
OBJECTIVE
The PROTIA™ Allergy-Q® enzyme immunoassay (EIA) is a recently developed screening assay for specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) for multiple allergens. The ImmunoCAP® fluorescent EIA (FEIA) system is the most widely used method for sIgE detection. In this study, we evaluated the performance of the Allergy-Q® system compared to the ImmunoCAP® system.


METHODS
We compared the 2 systems using sera from 260 Korean allergy patients suffering from asthma (26.5%), allergic rhinitis (42.3%), atopic dermatitis (67.7%), and food allergy (18.1%). We compared sIgE-measurement results for 7 inhalant allergens, 5 food allergens, and 4 microorganism allergens.


RESULTS
Overall, 1,799 paired assay results were analyzed. Except mugwort and alternaria, most of the allergen-sIgE results showed intra-class correlation coefficients of >0.5. Inter-assay class associations were reliable for most allergens (gamma=0.858-0.987, P<0.001). Passing-Bablok regression analysis showed multiple differences in intercept and slope. The inter-method concordance was moderate to substantial for most allergens (κ=0.713-0.898, P<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The PROTIA™ Allergy-Q® EIA system exhibited good detection performance compared to the ImmunoCAP® FEIA system in Korean allergic patients. However, because of methodological differences between the 2 assays, careful clinical implication is required for the interpretation of Allergy-Q® EIA results.
Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.|Institute of Allergy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Jae Hyun
JH
Lee
Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.|Institute of Allergy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Hye Jung
HJ
Park
Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.|Institute of Allergy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kyung Hee
KH
Park
Institute of Allergy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kyoung Yong
KY
Jeong
Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.|Institute of Allergy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. parkjw@yuhs.ac.
Jung Won
JW
Park
Allergen; Allergy-Q®; ImmunoCAP®; allergic disease; detection performance; specific IgE