Novel in silico technology in combination with microarrays: a state-of-the-art technology for allergy diagnosis and management?

Abstract

‘Allergen microarrays, in poly-sensitized allergic patients, represent a real value added in the accurate IgE profiling and in the identification of allergen(s) to administer for an effective allergen immunotherapy.’ Allergen microarrays (AMA) were developed in the early 2000s to improve the diagnostic pathway of patients with allergic reactions. Nowadays, AMA are constituted by more than 100 different components (either purified or recombinant), representing genuine and cross-reacting molecules from plants and animals. The cost of the procedure had suggested its use as third-level diagnostics (following in vivo– and in vitro–specific IgE tests) in poly-sensitized patients. The complexity of the interpretation had inspired the development of in silico technologies to help clinicians in their work. Both machine learning techniques and expert systems are now available. In particular, an expert system that has been recently developed not only identifies positive and negative components but also lists dangerous components and classifies patients based on their potential responsiveness to allergen immunotherapy, on the basis of published algorithms. For these characteristics, AMA represents the state-of-the-art technology for allergy diagnosis in poly-sensitized patients.

Keywords::

• allergen
• allergy
• artificial intelligence
• component
• expert systems
• laboratory test
• microarray

Acknowledgements

The article was revised by American Journal Experts only for English grammar, editing and typing.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the article. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.