News: Our efforts did not go unnoticed! A recent report of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven (the Netherlands), commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports and the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority has indicated our website as the first source of information on the relevant literature (compare: Ezendam J, van Loveren H. "Detection of sensitization to low molecular weight chemicals. Inventory and evaluation of ex vivo methods". RIVM Letter Report 340300002, Bilthoven 2009, page 6; → download the report).
At present, the mainstay of contact allergy diagnosis is the epicutaneous skin test, referred to as patch test (→ read more about patch test). Despite all efforts, there is still no laboratory test that could be used in routine diagnosis of contact allergy. Possible reasons are: high cost, technical difficulties, unsatisfactory sensitivity and specificity, and lack of validation. Yet another obstacle is the scarce and incomplete information regarding laboratory tests that have already been evaluated by various researchers. Therefore, this website has been launched to collect and collate available data on laboratory techniques used for in vitro detection of contact allergy, and to make this information available to all interested. We continuosly review published literature describing effectiveness of laboratory techniques in the detection of contact allergy, with particular attention to 28 haptens/mixes included in the European Baseline Series (EBS), which is the first line diagnosis of contact allergy in Europe.
Throughout history, the following laboratory tests (called also: in vitro or ex vivo tests) were used for the detection of specific response in contact allergy: migration inhibition test (MIF), lymphocyte blastic transformation test (LBTT), lymphocyte proliferation test (LPT), analysis of secreted cytokines and chemokines (ELISA, ELISPOT), cell markers (flow cytometry) and gene expression (PCR). One or more in vitro techniques were successfully used in the detection of contact allergy to 8 substances from the EBS: nickel, cobalt, chromium, methyl(chloro)isothiasolinone, fragrances, thiurams, 4-phenylenediamine, sesquiterpene lactones. Beyond the EBS, in vitro assays were applied with success in the detection of hypersensitivity to gold, palladium, and methacrylates. Sensitivity of these tests ranged from 38-79%, and specificity from 81-93%.
Table: Compilation of laboratory studies for the detection of contact allergy
Until now, in vitro tests have been successfully applied in only 8 of 28 substances from the European Baseline Series, however, validation of these tests is missing. Concerted efforts of all researchers active in this field are crucial for identification of optimal methods and protocols, leading to a validated laboratory test that would be as good as patch test. Discussion with colleagues indicate that journals refuse to publish reports with negative results, which leads to the risk of repeating expensive studies of ineffective assays by other investigators. In order to overcome this serious publication bias, this new Internet site www.ivpt.info was launched, where information from published and unpublished studies with additional comments can be posted for the benefit of scientific community.
Important notice: If you know of a relevant paper, which has not been included into our compilation, please inform us - follow this link to our contact email. We will include into our compilation also unpublished/negative results if submitted in the form of a standard manuscript with an abstract, aims, methods, results and conclusions (full-lenght introduction and discussion are not obligatory, a short comment summing up your experiments will suffice).
Copyright © Radoslaw Spiewak
Document created: 4 June 2009, last updated: 9 May 2010.
This page is part of www.ivpt.info website.