Abstract
We adapted DELFIA™ (dissociation-enhanced lanthanide fluoroimmunoassay), a time resolved fluorescence method, to quantitate whole venom specific and allergenic peptide-specific IgE (sIgE), sIgG1 and sIgG4 in serum from people clinically allergic to Australian native ant venoms, of which the predominant cause of allergy is jack jumper ant venom (JJAV). Intra-assay CV was 6.3% and inter-assay CV was 13.7% for JJAV sIgE. DELFIA and Phadia CAP JJAV sIgE results correlated well and had similar sensitivity and specificity for the detection of JJAV sIgE against intradermal skin testing as the gold standard. DELFIA was easily adapted for detecting sIgE to a panel of other native ant venoms.
Highlights
The allergic response to insect stings can range from mild skin irritation through to large localised reactions and severe generalised (‘‘systemic’’) reactions which can result in fatal anaphylaxis
The efficacy of JJA venom immunotherapy (VIT) in preventing anaphylaxis has been demonstrated by a randomised double-blind, placebo controlled trial [5]
We aimed to develop and validate a developed a time-resolved fluorometric assay (DELFIA) assay for quantifying specific IgE (sIgE) to jack jumper ant venom (JJAV) and to the peptide allergen Myr p 2a, and test whether this method was adaptable to detect sIgE to other native Australian ant venoms and to quantify sIgG1 and sIgG4 responses to venom immunotherapy
Summary
The allergic response to insect stings can range from mild skin irritation through to large localised reactions and severe generalised (‘‘systemic’’) reactions which can result in fatal anaphylaxis. Allergy to native ants of the genus Myrmecia is an important clinical problem in Australia. In the southern island state of Tasmania, 1% (95% CI 0.5–1.8) of the population has experienced one or more severe allergic reactions to a sting from Myrmecia pilosula (the ‘‘jack jumper ant’’ (JJA)) [4]. Allergic reactions to the sting of other Myrmecia species and other ant genera appear to be less common [4,9], the epidemiology is less well defined due in part to lack of sensitive and specific diagnostic tests for allergy to these species
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