Der p 1, Der p 2, and Der p 23 Content in House Dust Mite Allergen Extracts in Relation to Their Biological Potency Measured through Standardized Skin Prick Testing

Abstract

House dust mites (HDM) allergy possesses great clinical and social significance. It is extremely heterogeneous on a molecular level, which poses various difficulties for allergen extract manufacturers, in terms of their composition. Great attention is paid to the concentration of the so-called major allergens, to which most patients are sensitized and due to which, in large, the biological activity of these extracts is expressed.

The aim of our study was to conduct a pilot measurement of concentration of three of the most clinically significant major allergens – Der p 1, Der p 2, Der p 23, within 8 series of HDM extracts, produced by the Laboratory of Allergy at Bul Bio – NCIPD using monoclonal antibody ELISA. Results showed the presence of all three major allergens within the extracts, but no statistically proven correlation was found between their concentration, and the reported biological activity of the same extracts from skin prick testing (ρ < 0.20 and p ≥ 0.05).