Faber IgE test: A standard multiplex diagnostic tool to explore allergic sensitization across Northern, Central and Southern areas in Italy
Rossi R, Minelli M, Ferrara R, Zennaro D, Bernardi ML, Vergallo I, Maio D, Rafaiani C, Ciancamerla M, Tamburrini M, Tuppo L, Giangrieco I, Ciardiello MA, Mari A, Alessandri C
Allergy 72: 667-667. (2017)
Introduction:IgE-mediated diseases are the most common allergicdiseases worldwide. Precision medicine includes stratification ofpatients also according to their geographical distribution. The aller-genic sources vary from one geographic area to another. The use of abroad panel of allergens facilitates the study design to comparativelyinvestigate different areas. The FABER test for IgE detection bearing244 allergens, both molecules (122) and extracts (122), is the mostadvanced tool for this purpose including inhalant and food allergens.Objectives:The aim of this pilot study is to investigate the aller-gic sensitization prevalence in three groups of Italian patients livingin Piedmont (North-western area, PM), Latium (Central area, LZ)and Apulia (South-eastern area, PG). FABER 244 version has beenused to detect specific IgE. Serum samples were all tested in a sin-gle lab for the routine diagnostic workup. The three groups of 122(PM), 122 (LZ) and 100 (PG) patients were matched for both age(0.1-79 yo, average: 33 yo) and gender distribution (F/M=1.25:1).Results:The three groups behave differently in terms of the over-all number of IgE recognized allergens: the average number was 22for PM, 20 for LZ, and 14 for PG. The sensitization for all dustmite allergens appears to be homogeneous in the three groupswith the highest values in LZ for Der p 2 (47%) and the lowest inPG for Der p 9 (2.5%). Der p 23 showed marked differences inprevalence between LZ (31%) versus PG (22%) and PM (18%).Grass, Fagales, Parietaria, Olive and Cypress pollen marker allergenswere as follows: Bet v 1 (PM 28%, LZ 9%, PG 2%), Par j 2 (PM11%, LZ 16%, PG 18%), Ole e 1 (PM 25%, LZ 20%, PG 17%), Cupa 1 (PM 25%, LZ 38%, PG 37%), Phl p 1 (PM 50%, LZ 37%, PG22%), Phl p 5 (PM 36%, LZ 29%, PG 5%), and Amb a 1 (PM 4%,LZ 1.6%, PG 0%). The LTP sensitization was recorded higher in LZ(20%) compared to PG (17%) and PM (16%). Other allergen sensiti-zations were: Tropomyosin (PM 4%, LZ 3%, PG 3%); Profilin (PM18%, LZ 8%, PG 1%); Parvalbumin (PM 2.5%, LZ 1%, PG 2%).Conclusions:IgE detection by means of the FABER multiplex testmight allow to precisely detect sensitization prevalence to inhalantand food allergens using data from the routine diagnosis. FABERtesting preliminary discloses differences and similarities among dif-ferent Italian regions having quite different climates. To draw anyconclusion the study using the same FABER multiplex tool on largercohorts of patients will be performed.
