Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology – Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or... – Involving antigen-antibody binding – specific binding protein...
Patent
1994-12-05
1997-10-21
Chin, Christopher L.
Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology
Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or...
Involving antigen-antibody binding, specific binding protein...
152462, 152463, 15347, 73 233, 422 56, 422 58, 422 61, 422 83, 422101, 435 792, 435 794, 435 721, 435 731, 435810, 435975, 4352871, 4352872, 436518, 436524, 436807, 436810, G01N 33543, G01N 3358
Patent
active
056795351
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to apparatus for the collection and detection of antigen and, in particular, to apparatus for collecting, detecting or determining an antigen dispersed in a motile fluid, including air, in a given environment, such as a household environment.
The invention has particular application in the direct detection in the environment of antigens comprising, or derived from, a variety of substances, including micro-organisms, which are causative of disease, especially allergic diseases.
BACKGROUND ART
In recent years it has become apparent that the common allergic diseases viz bronchial asthma, rhinitis and atopic dermatitis are inflammatory disorders. In particular, a number of recent studies have provided convincing evidence that immunological sensitivity to both dust-mite and cat-dander are highly significant independent risk factors associated with the development of asthma. Reports from many different countries have demonstrated a high prevalence of allergy to dust-mites among patients with asthma, ranging from 45-85% (Report of International Workshop of the International Association of Allergology and Clinical Immunology, Bad Krenznach, FRG, September 1987, page 2, Bulletin of World Health Organisation August 1988; and Platts-Mills, T. A. E. and Chapman, M. D. (1987) J. Allergy Clin. Immunol., 80, 6; 755-775).
Mites representing a variety of species, but predominantly those of the species Dermatophagoides, are found wherever local environmental conditions, such as appropriate bedding, carpeting, soft furnishings, humidity and warmth, etc., favour their proliferation. A number of major allergen groups have been defined among the Dermatophagoides species and greater than 80% of mite allergic patients have IgE class antibodies to various allergens associated therewith. However, while the term "house dust-mite" applies to mites of the family Pyroglyphidae, of which ten species have been reported to occur in house dust more often than just occasionally, four species predominate in house dust namely: D. pteronyssinus, D. farinae, D. microcerus and Euroglyphus mayneii. Other mites found in houses can be important as causative factors of allergic disease and these include mites regarded as storage mites.
Dispersed environmental allergens other than those from dust-mites are also relevant in allergic disease in some patients. Particularly important allergens include those from domestic pets such as cats (cat-dander, Fel dl), dogs and birds, cockroaches and other insects, fungal spores and pollen (Platts-Mills, T. A. E. and Chapman M. D. (1987) (supra)). It is also known that micro-organisms can become dispersed in airborne droplets and transmit disease, a good example being legionnaires' disease, a severe and sometimes fatal, respiratory infection in which ventilation systems are frequently implicated in the transmission thereof, especially in index cases. Furthermore, many diseases may be transmitted by waterborne micro-organisms, for example hepatitis A and cholera.
Many varying factors result in there being wide ranging levels of the aforementioned allergens present at different times and in different households. Allergic disease, from mild to very severe, can result in patients who are sensitive to any of the abovementioned allergens wherever and whenever the particular allergen is present beyond a certain threshold level. No tests yet exist which enable householders themselves to specifically determine levels of any of these allergens in their homes. Thus it is not yet possible for householders to determine, for example, if the cleaning methods they are using to reduce dust-mites or other specific allergens are effective. A commercial semi-quantitative, but non-specific, test known as the "guanine" test (Werner and Mertz, Mainz, Germany) has however been produced, which test correlates with dust-mite numbers only. Guanine is excreted by mites and most other insects and many animals and is therefore not specific to allergy causing mites. The guanine test does not detect th
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Tovey et al, "The Distribution of Dust Mite Allergen in the Houses of Patients with Asthma", Am. Rev. Respir. Dis., 1981, 124, pp. 630-635.
Joyce Patrick Joseph
Mitchell Edmund Bruce
Shattock Alan Gaylard
Chin Christopher L.
University Collge Dublin
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