Patterns of IgE sensitization in house dust mite-allergic patients: implications for allergen immunotherapy

BACKGROUND

Understanding patterns of IgE sensitization in Dermatophagoides-allergic patients living in various geographical areas is necessary to design a product suitable for worldwide allergen immunotherapy (AIT).

METHODS

Using a HIFI Allergy customized microarray assay, IgEs specific for 12 purified allergens from Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus or D. farinae were assessed in sera from 1302 house dust mite (HDM)-allergic patients living in various areas. Comprehensive mass spectrometric (MS) analyses were conducted to characterize HDM extracts, as well as purified bodies and feces.

RESULTS

Patterns of IgE reactivity to HDM allergens are comparable in all cohorts of patients analyzed, encompassing adults and 5- to 17-year-old children, as well as American, Canadian, European, and Japanese patients. Overall, >70% and >80% of HDM-allergic patients are sensitized to group 1 and group 2 allergens, respectively, from D. pteronyssinus and/or D. farinae species. Furthermore, 20-47% of patients also have IgEs to allergens from groups 4, 5, 7, 13, 15, 21, and 23. All patients have IgEs to allergens present in mite bodies and feces. MS-based analyses confirmed the presence of mite allergens recorded by IUIS in D. pteronyssinus and D. farinae extracts, with groups 2, 8, 10, 11, 14, and 20 prominent in bodies and groups 1, 6, 18, and 23 well represented in feces.

CONCLUSIONS

Mite-specific AIT should rely upon a mixture of D. pteronyssinus and D. farinae extracts, manufactured from both feces and bodies. Such a combination is appropriate to treat children and adult Dermatophagoides-allergic patients from Asia, Europe, and North America.

Surface Functionalization for Immobilization of Probes on Microarrays

The microarray technology has been a tremendous advance in molecular-based testing methods for biochemical and biomedical applications. As a result, the immobilization techniques and grafting chemistries of biochemical molecules have experienced great progress. The particularities of the grafting techniques adapted to the microarray development will be presented here.

How nanoparticles encapsulating fluorophores allow a double detection of biomolecules by localized surface plasmon resonance and luminescence

The paper shows how polysiloxane particles encapsulating fluorophores can be successfully used to detect biotin-streptavidin binding by two types of technique. After functionalization of the particles by streptavidin, the fixation of the biomolecule can indeed be detected by a shift of the localized surface plasmon resonance of the biotinylated gold dots used as substrate and by the luminescence of the fluorophores evidenced by scanning near-field optical microscopy. The development of particles allowing such a double detection opens a route for increasing the reliability of biological detection and for multi-labelling strategies crossing both detection principles.

DNA Covalent Immobilization onto Screen-Printed Electrode Networks for Direct Label-Free Hybridization Detection of p53 Sequences

A new electrochemical biochip for the detection of DNA sequences was developed. The entire biochip-i.e., working, reference, and counter electrodes-was constructed based on the screen-printing technique and exhibits eight working electrodes that could be individually addressed and grafted through a simple electrochemical procedure. Screen-printed electrode networks were functionalized electrochemically with 1-ethyl-3-(3dimethylaminopropyl)carbodidiimide according to a simple procedure. Single-stranded DNA with a C6-NH(2) linker at the 5'-end was then covalently bound to the surface to act as probe for the direct, nonlabeled, detection of complementary strands in a conductive liquid medium. In the present system, the study was focused on a particular codon (273) localized in the exon 8 of the p53 gene (20 mer, TTGAGGTGCATGTTTGTGCC). The integrity of the immobilized probes and its ability to capture target sequences was monitored through chemiluminescent detection following the hybridization of a peroxidase-labeled target. The grafting of the probe at the electrode surface was shown to generate significant shifts of the Nyquist curves measured in the 10-kHz to 80-Hz range. These variations of the faradaic impedance were found to be related to changes of the double layer capacitance of the electrochemical system's equivalent circuit. Similarly, hybridization of complementary strands was monitored through the measurements of these shifts, which enabled the detection of target sequences from 1 to 200 nM. Discrimination between complementary, noncomplementary, and single-nucleotide mismatch targets was easily accomplished.

Electrogenerated chemiluminescence of luminol for oxidase-based fibre-optic biosensors

The luminol electrochemiluminescence has been exploited for the development of several fibre-optic biosensors allowing the detection of hydrogen peroxide and of substrates of H(2)O(2)-producing oxidases. Electro-optical flow injection analysis of glucose, lactate, cholesterol and choline are thus described. To perform the experiments, a glassy carbon electrode was polarized at a fixed potential. Luminol was then electrochemically oxidized and could react in the presence of hydrogen peroxide to produce light. Several parameters had to be optimized to obtain reliable optical biosensors. An optimum applied potential of +425 mV between the glassy carbon electrode and the platinum pseudo-reference electrode was determined, allowing the best signal: noise ratio to be obtained. It was also necessary to optimize the experimental conditions for the immobilization of the different oxidases involved (preactivated membranes, chemically activated collagen membranes, photopolymerized matrix). For each biosensor developed, the optimum reaction conditions have been studied: buffer composition, pH, temperature, flow rate and luminol concentration. Under optimal conditions, the detection limits (S/N = 3) were 30 pmol, 60 pmol, 0.6 nmol and 10 pmol for lactate, glucose, cholesterol and choline, respectively. The miniaturization of electrochemiluminescence-based biosensors has been realized using screen-printed electrodes instead of a glassy carbon macroelectrode, with choline oxidase as a model H(2)O(2)-generating oxidase.

Fiberoptic biosensors based on chemiluminescent reactions

The chemiluminescence of luminol in the presence of H2O2 has been exploited to develop fiberoptic biosensors associated with flow injection analysis systems. A chlorophenol sensor was developed based on the ability of certain halophenols to enhance the peroxidase-catalyzed luminol chemiluminescence. Horseradish peroxidase immobilized on a collagen membrane was used. Ten chlorophenols have been tested with this chemiluminescent-based sensor. The lower detection limit was obtained with 4-chloro-3-methylphenol and was equal to 0.01 microM. Electrochemiluminescent-based fiberoptic biosensors for glucose and lactate were also developed using glucose oxidase or lactate oxidase immobilized on polyamide membranes. In the presence of oxidase-generated H2O2, the light emission was triggered electrochemically by means of a glassy carbon electrode polarized at +425 mV vs a platinum pseudo-reference electrode. The detection limits for glucose and lactate were 150 and 60 pmol, respectively, and the dynamic ranges were linear from 150 pmol to 600 nmol and from 60 pmol to 60 nmol, respectively.

Chemiluminescent choline biosensor using histidine-modified peroxidase immobilised on metal-chelate substituted beads and choline oxidase immobilised on anion-exchanger beads co-entrapped in a photocrosslinkable polymer

A novel sensing layer design is presented based on the non-covalent immobilisation of enzymes on derivatized Sepharose beads subsequently entrapped in PVA-SbQ photopolymer. Two different modified Sepharose beads were used, IDA- and DEAE-Sepharose, for the immobilisation, respectively, of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) modified with histidine, and choline oxidase (Chx). The HRP-IDA-Sepharose-based sensing layer was used in a flow injection analysis chemiluminescent system as the basis of an H2O2 biosensor. It was shown that the pre-immobilisation on IDA-Sepharose beads enhanced the sensing layer stability and enabled the immobilisation of a larger amount of enzyme. A 1.8 mg charge of HRP-IDA-Sepharose beads in the sensing layer produced the most sensitive H2O2 biosensor. Such an analytical system exhibited very good performances, with a cycle time of 2 min and a detection limit of 15 pmol (detection ranging over four decades at least), and an unusual long operational stability of 200 measurements (CV, 3.5%). The HRP-IDA-Sepharose beads were then combined with Chx-DEAE-Sepharose. With this modified Sepharose-based biosensor the limit of detection for choline (S/N, 3) was equal to 0.5 pmol and the working range was 0.35 pmol-10 nmol. Moreover, the cycle time was only 2.5 min with the new sensing layer, and a long operational stability of 150 successive assays was found, with a variation coefficient of 2.6%.

An electrochemiluminescence-based fibre optic biosensor for choline flow injection analysis

A fibre optic biosensor based on luminol electrochemiluminescence (ECL) integrated in a flow injection analysis (FIA) system was developed for the detection of choline. The electrochemiluminescence of luminol was generated by a glassy carbon electrode polarised at +425 mV vs. a platinum pseudo-reference electrode. Choline oxidase (Chx) was immobilised either covalently on polyamide (ABC type) or on UltraBind preactivated membranes, or by physical entrapment in a photo-cross-linkable poly(vinyl alcohol) polymer (PVA-SbQ) alone or after absorption on a weak anion exchanger, DEAE (diethylaminoethyl) Sepharose. The optimisation of the reaction conditions and physicochemical parameters influencing the FIA biosensor response demonstrated that the choline biosensor exhibited the best performances in a 30 mM veronal buffer containing 30 mM KCl and 1.5 mM MgCl2, at pH 9. The use of a 0.5 ml min-1 flow rate enabled the measurement of choline by the membrane-based ECL biosensors in 8 or 5 min, with ABC or UltraBind membranes, respectively, whereas the measurement required only 3 min with the DEAE-PVA system. For comparison, the detection of choline was performed with Chx immobilised using the four different supports. The best performances were obtained with the DEAE-PVA-Chx sensing layer, which allowed a detection limit of 10 pmol, whereas with the ABC, the UltraBind and the PVA systems, the detection limits were 300 pmol, 75 pmol and 220 pmol, respectively. The DEAE-based system also exhibited a good operational stability since 160 repeated measurements of 3 nmol of choline could be performed with an RSD of 4.5% whereas the stability under the best conditions was 45 assays with the other supports.