title: Comparative Analysis of Serum Allergen sIgE Detected by Western Blotting and Fluorescent Enzyme Immunoassay.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Various new methods to diagnose allergens have gradually developed in recent years. The present study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance and clinical utility of Allergy-Q detection system (Proteometech Inc., Korea) on serum allergen-specific IgE (sIgE).
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunoblotting (Allergy-Q system) and fluorescent enzyme immunoassay (ImmunoCAP system, Phadia Inc., Sweden) were used to detect serum total IgE and allergen sIgE of 244 cases of allergic diseases, followed by comparative analysis of the results. The study focused on analyzing 15 kinds of common allergens.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Comparison of the two methods showed that the diagnostic performance of qualitative results of AllergyQ system for the majority of allergens was satisfactory, with Dermatophagoides farinae having the highest agreement (96.4%) and sensitivity (97.8%) and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus having the highest specificity (100%), positive predictive value (100%), and Youden's index (J = 0.951). Scatter plots and Spearman's correlation analysis showed correlations between the quantitative results of the two methods, with the highest correlation for Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (r = 0.875, p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For most common allergens, the Allergy-Q system is an effective method for diagnosis. It is safe, convenient, economical, accurate, and efficient in screening multi-allergens. Moreover, it is good for semi-quantitative detection of allergens in the basic hospitals that are unable to carry out the ImmunoCAP detection, and also for patients with fewer samples. However, its clinical application needs to be validated using a number of samples from a variety of countries and regions.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Peiyan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Nili
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Huimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Wenting
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Yongping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Baoqing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens; D015153:Blotting, Western; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D056910:Republic of Korea; D013548:Sweden
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D007073:Immunoglobulin E