loading page

Diagnostic characterization of respiratory allergies by means of a multiplex immunoassay.
  • +3
  • Joline Millen,
  • Ibbo Willems,
  • Gitte Slingers,
  • Marc Raes,
  • Gudrun Koppen,
  • Sabine Langie
Joline Millen
Flemish Institute for Technological Research

Corresponding Author:joline.millen@hotmail.com

Author Profile
Ibbo Willems
Flemish Institute for Technological Research
Author Profile
Gitte Slingers
Flemish Institute for Technological Research
Author Profile
Marc Raes
Hasselt University
Author Profile
Gudrun Koppen
Flemish Institute for Technological Research
Author Profile
Sabine Langie
Maastricht University, Maastricht University
Author Profile

Abstract

Allergic sensitization is commonly assessed in patients by performing the skin prick test (SPT) or determining specific IgE levels in blood samples with the ImmunoCAP assay, which measures each allergen and sample separately. This paper explores the possibility to investigate respiratory allergies with a high throughput method, the Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) multiplex immunoassay, measuring IgE levels in low volumes of blood. The MSD multiplex immunoassay, developed and optimized with standards and allergens from Radim, was validated against the SPT and the ImmunoCAP assay. For 18 adults (15 respiratory allergy patients and 3 controls), blood collection and the SPT were performed within the same hour. Pearson correlations and Bland-Altman analysis showed high comparability of the MSD multiplex immunoassay and the ImmunoCAP assay, except for house dust mite. The sensitivity of the MSD multiplexed assay was ≥75% for most allergens compared to the SPT and ImmunoCAP assay. Additionally, the specificity of the MSD multiplex immunoassay was ≥80% - the majority showing 100% specificity. Only the rye allergen had a low specificity when compared to the SPT, probably due to cross-reactivity. The reproducibility of the MSD multiplex immunoassay, assessed as intra- and inter-assay reproducibility and biological variability between different sampling moments, showed significantly high correlations (r=0.943-1) for all tested subjects (apart from subject 13; r=0.65-0.99). The MSD multiplex immunoassay is a reliable method to detect specific IgE levels against respiratory allergens in a multiplexed and high throughput way, using blood samples as small as from a finger prick.
09 Jun 2020Submitted to Clinical & Experimental Immunology
10 Jun 2020Submission Checks Completed
10 Jun 2020Assigned to Editor
10 Jun 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
23 Jul 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
23 Jul 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Major
19 Oct 20201st Revision Received
19 Oct 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
26 Oct 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
26 Oct 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
30 Oct 20202nd Revision Received
30 Oct 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
02 Nov 2020Editorial Decision: Accept
13 Jan 2021Published in Clinical and Experimental Immunology volume 203 issue 2 on pages 183-193. 10.1111/cei.13548