Proteomic approaches for identifying new allergens and diagnosing allergic diseases

Background: Allergic diseases are (IgE)-mediated hypersensitivity reactions affecting more than 25% of the world's population. Proteomic technologies have been increasingly used in the field of allergy and include the use of protein microarrays and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis coupled with immunoblotting. Methods: The literature relevant to proteomic approaches to allergic diseases was searched using MEDLINE database. We reviewed proteomics approaches and applications, focusing specifically on two-dimensional immunoblotting techniques and allergen microarrays. Results: The results obtained show that proteomic approaches using two-dimensional immunoblotting appear to be a powerful strategy for the identification of allergenic proteins. Likewise, the use of allergen microarrays allows a large number of IgE antibodies to be simultaneously identified. Conclusions: Proteomic approaches are only beginning to be applied to the study of allergy. In the field of in vitro diagnosis, allergen microarrays provide a promising tool not routinely used in the allergy laboratory. In the near future this powerful technique will be used as a standard technique for in vitro diagnosis of allergy. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.