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Use of Humanized Rat Basophilic Leukemia Reporter Cell Lines as a Diagnostic Tool for Detection of Allergen-Specific IgE in Allergic Patients: Time for a Reappraisal?

  • Allergens (RK Bush and JA Woodfolk, Section Editors)
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Abstract

The interaction between allergens and specific IgE is at the heart of the allergic response and as such lies at the center of techniques used for diagnosis of allergic sensitization. Although serological tests are available, in vivo tests such as double-blind placebo-controlled food challenges (DBPCFC) and skin prick test (SPT) associated to the patients’ clinical history are still the main guides to clinicians in many practices around the world. More recently, complex protein arrays and basophil activation tests, requiring only small amounts of whole blood, have been developed and refined, but are yet to enter clinical practice. Similarly, the use of rat basophilic leukemia (RBL) cell lines for detection of allergen-specific IgE has been made possible by stable transfection of the human FcεRI α chain into this cell line more than 20 years ago, but has not found widespread acceptance among clinicians. Here, we review the perceived limitations of diagnostic applications of humanized RBL systems. Furthermore, we illustrate how the introduction of reporter genes into humanized RBL cells is able to overcome most of these limitations, and has the potential to become a new powerful tool to complement the armamentarium of allergists. A demonstration of the usefulness of humanized RBL reporter systems for elucidation of complex IgE sensitization patterns against wheat proteins and a section on the use of fluorescence-based reporter systems in combination with allergen arrays close the review.

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Conflict of Interest

Drs. Falcone, Alcocer, Okamoto-Uchida, and Nakamura declare no conflicts of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Molecular and Cellular Science, School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, Boots Science Building, Science Road, NG7 2RD, Nottingham, UK

    Franco H. Falcone

  2. Nutritional Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, LE12 5RD, Nottingham, UK

    Marcos J. C. Alcocer

  3. National Institute of Health Sciences, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan

    Yoshimi Okamoto-Uchida & Ryosuke Nakamura

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  1. Franco H. Falcone
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  2. Marcos J. C. Alcocer
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  3. Yoshimi Okamoto-Uchida
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  4. Ryosuke Nakamura
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Correspondence to Franco H. Falcone.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Allergens

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Falcone, F.H., Alcocer, M.J.C., Okamoto-Uchida, Y. et al. Use of Humanized Rat Basophilic Leukemia Reporter Cell Lines as a Diagnostic Tool for Detection of Allergen-Specific IgE in Allergic Patients: Time for a Reappraisal?. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep 15, 67 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11882-015-0568-3

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