The Potential of Human Monoclonal IgE Antibodies to Establish Biological Potency and Stability of Allergen Extracts

Abstract Purpose of Review Allergenic extracts are often standardized to control for potency, either by measuring concentrations of major allergens or “overall allergenicity” by competition for IgE in pooled sera from highly allergic subjects with a reference extract. Recent developments present an opportunity to use human mAb cloned from highly allergic subjects to define potency of allergenic extracts. Recent Findings Two recent developments present an opportunity for revising potency measurements of allergen extracts: cloning allergen specific IgE from allergic subjects and extensive epitope mapping of major allergenic proteins. Summary Because human IgE mAb recognize biologically relevant epitopes, they present a novel opportunity to determine the potencies of allergenic extracts and may contribute to the science base for allergen standardization.