When are serum specific IgE levels positive?

Abstract

We read with interest the article by Stringari et al1 on how component-resolved diagnosis (CRD) might play a role in allergen immunotherapy (AIT) prescription in patients with allergic rhinitis. We agree with the authors' conclusion that improving the exactness of the diagnosis improves the prescription specificity, which will likely improve the effectiveness of the immunotherapy, even though this remains to be demonstrated in randomized trials, as the authors themselves say. The authors underline that sometimes skin prick tests (SPTs) or serum specific IgE levels for allergen extracts might not be consistent with the CRD results and that this might reflect a significant change in the AIT prescription.