Molecular Allergy Diagnostics: Innovation for a Better Patient Management

This book, based on a recent German publication, offers an overview of basic data and recent developments in the groundbreaking field of molecular allergology. It comprehensively explores the origin and structure of single allergen molecules ("components") and their utility in improving the management of type I, IgE-mediated allergic reactions and disorders like allergic respiratory diseases, food allergies, and anaphylaxis. 

Highly specific testing, called component-resolved diagnostics, aims to identify and utilize single molecules. Over 200 single allergens from plant or animal sources have been applied to single or multiplex laboratory testing for the presence of allergen-specific IgE. This leap in assay sensitivity and specificity has led to three major advances in patient management: discrimination between primary allergic sensitization and complex cross-reactivity, recognition of IgE profiles for certain allergens and identification of patients most likely to benefit from allergen-specific immunotherapy. 

The book discusses in detail the benefits and limitations of this 21st century technology, and offers suggestions for the use of molecular allergology in routine clinical practice. It is a “must read” for physicians treating allergic patients as well as scientists interested in natural allergic molecules and their interactions with the human immune system.

Thilo Jakob is Professor for Dermatology and Allergology at the Medical Faculty, Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen, and Chair of the Department of Dermatology and Allergology at the University Medical Center Giessen and Marburg (UKGM), Campus Giessen, Germany. He trained with Prof. Ivan Roitt, University College, London, Dres Steven Katz and Mark Udey, N.I.H. Bethesda, USA, and Prof. Johannes Ring, Technische Universität Munich, Germany. His research interests are focused on clinical and experimental allergology and immunodermatology, related to which he has published 110 original articles, with a cumulative impact factor of 672, over 3000 citations, 97 reviews and book chapters. He was awarded numerous research and teaching prizes such as the University Teaching Award in 2010 and the e-learing Award by the Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg in 2013. He is currently board member of the Executive Committee of the German Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (DGAKI), past member of the Executive Committee European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (2005-2009) and past Chairman of the  Immunology Section of the EAACI. He is currently the Editor in Chief of the Allergo Journal International, the official journal of the German Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the Medical Association of German Allergist (since 2010), Associate Editor of International Archives of Allergy and Immunology and serves on the editorial board of a number of allergy and dermatology journals.

Jörg Kleine-Tebbe is working as an allergist and dermatologist at the Allergy and Asthma Center Westend, Berlin, a private practice and research center. After the MD in medicine, he earned a Clinical and Research Fellowship at the Asthma OPD and Department of Clinical Immunology (Chair: Prof. Dr. Gert Kunkel), University Hospital Rudolf Virchow, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. He continued with allergy & immunology related basic research (Visiting Instructor in Medicine) at the Johns Hopkins Asthma & Allergy Center, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Division (L. M. Lichtenstein, D. G. Marsh), Baltimore MD, USA. Afterwards he became Senior Resident and Instructor at the University Dermatology Hospital in Leipzig. Later he transferred his habilitation and lectureship to the Charité, Berlin (University Hospital of Dermatology and Allergology, Humboldt University) and, successively, joined the team of Prof. Dr. Gert Kunkel, at Allergy and Asthma Center Westend (AAZW), a Multi-Group Private Practice for Allergology, Internal Medicine and Dermatology with an integrated Clinical Research Center (UZDAA) for Allergology, Airway & Lung Diseases and Dermatology. Jörg Kleine-Tebbe has authored and co-authored numerous national and international guidelines and has been Chairman of the EAACI Interest Group Allergy Diagnosis, is currently Board Member of the EAACI Interest Group Immunotherapy, member of the AAAAI Immunotherapy, Allergen Standardization and Allergy Diagnostics Committee and the AAAAI Practice, Diagnostics and Therapeutics Committee and Executive Committee member of the German Society of Allergy and clinical Immunology (DGAKI).