Comparative studies of recombinant timothy grass molecular allergens
produced in E. coli and N. benthamiana for detection of
allergen-specific immunoglobulin E by microarray
Abstract
The main objective of this study was to analyze and compare recombinant
timothy grass allergen diagnostic performance on microarray chip.
Timothy grass allergen components Phl p 1, Phl p 2, Phl p 5, Phl p 6,
Phl p 11, and Phl p 12 were produced in E. coli and/or in
N. benthamiana. In total 113 patient sera samples were used to
assess allergy microarray chip inter-assay variability, diagnostic
sensitivity and specificity, and correlation, for the detection of
allergen-specific IgE levels. The majority of recombinant timothy grass
allergens showed high or very high positive correlation of
immunoreactivity with other commercial multiplex tests. Maltose binding
protein fused Phl p 11 showed high specificity and sensitivity, with 0.3
arbitrary cut-off value. High intraassay variation reflects
allergen-dependent degradation. Additionally, a sIgE prevalence to
timothy grass allergens was assessed within a tested patient cohort and
showed a similar sensitization profile among multiple studies.