ORIGINAL ARTICLE Microarrays of Recombinant Hevea brasiliensis Proteins: A Novel Tool for the Component-Resolved Diagnosis of Natural Rubber Latex Allergy

*Both authors contributed equally to the article. Background: Component-resolved diagnosis using microarray technology has recently been introduced in clinical allergology, but its applicability in patients with natural rubber latex (NRL) allergy has not been investigated. Objectives: To evaluate the utility of microarray-based immunoglobulin (Ig) E detection in the diagnostic workup of NRL allergy and to compare this new diagnostic tool with established methods of NRL-specifi c IgE detection. Methods: We investigated 52 adults with immediate-type NRL allergy and 50 control patients. Determination of specifi c serum IgE against 8 recombinant Hevea brasiliensis allergen components was performed using a customized allergen microarray and a conventional fl uorescence enzyme immunoassay (FEIA). Results: The panel of microarrayed allergen components was shown to represent a comprehensive repertoire of clinically relevant NRL proteins. NRL-specifi c IgE recognition patterns and sensitization rates determined by microarray analysis were similar to those obtained by conventional FEIA. The diagnostic sensitivity rates of combined single-component data were not signifi cantly different for the respective recombinant test system, whereas the sensitivity level of extract-based FEIA analysis was markedly higher. Conclusion: The current study provides evidence that microarrays of recombinant NRL allergen components are a suitable new tool for the diagnosis of NRL-specifi c sensitization. They show performance characteristics comparable to those of current diagnostic tests and could b