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In 90 sera from patients with specific allergies (i. e. to guinea pig dander, cat dander, horse dander, dog dander, human dander or ipecac) and with positive skin tests to the allergenic preparations, the presence of IgE and IgG4 antibodies was determined by radioallergosorbent test (RAST). A correlation between IgE RAST scores and IgG4 RAST scores to the individual allergens was established. In patients allergic to guinea pig dander, a high incidence of negative IgE RAST scores but positive IgG4 RAST scores was found. This was less often the case in the group with cat dander allergy. IgG RAST scores determined in 51 sera proved to have some predictive value with respect to IgG4 or other IgG subclasses involved in the allergic reactions. Because a high incidence of negative IgE RAST scores was found, IgE RAST inhibition does not seem to be the method of choice for the standardization of allergenic preparations in general.

A double-sandwich enzyme immunoassay (DSEIA) was developed for the detection of human IgG antibodies to dog dander and hair (DH) allergens. Since DH allergens are immunogenic in rabbits, the gamma-globulin fraction of rabbit antiserum to DH (RGG-a-DH; 10 μg/ml) was used for coating of polystyrene microtiter plates. Dog allergens (1 μg/ml of DH extract) were bound to RGG-a-DH. Binding of human IgG Ab to nonimmune RGG (10 μg/ml) – used as a background control – was substracted from the DH specific one and nonspecific binding was further eliminated by using 0.5% of normal rabbit serum in the dilution buffer. Sera were diluted 1:10 in this buffer. Specificity of the assay was shown by absorption experiments: protein A, anti-IgE discs (Phadebas® PRIST) and dog or birch (e5, t3; Phadebas® RAST) allergen discs were used to remove total and allergen specific IgG and IgE, respectively. The results were expressed as net absorbances or as a percentage of a reference serum. A significant correlation (r = 0.65, p