Birrueta et al. (Front Immunol, 2019) compared the immunogenicity of different German cockroach extracts on PBMCs from allergic and non-allergic patients.
An IFN-γ/IL-10/IL-5 FluoroSpot assay was central to dissect the variable immune profiles among the donors, as it allowed the researchers to unravel the effect of the various extracts directly on T-cell activity. As hypothesized, the different extracts did not only vary in their composition but also had variable biological effects on T cell responses. Furthermore, the team detected a significantly higher IL-5 response in allergic donors compared to non-allergic donors.
In summary, this is the first study to compare various cockroach extracts and their effect on T cells. These findings have implications for the choice of extracts used in diagnostics and allergen specific immunotherapy.
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