Abstract
Molecular allergy (MA) represents an understanding of allergens down to their molecular, individual protein constituents. Just as allergy entered a new era at the end of 1960s with the discovery of the IgE molecule, the characterization of Der p 1 some 20 years later signaled a new paradigm in allergy. Sitting at the heart the standardization of allergenic extracts, MA opens a new era of allergy diagnosis and treatment that dramatically enhances our ability to advance clinical allergy care. It is not the long sought after Holy Grail of an unequivocal biologic marker for clinical allergy. MA will require a significant educational update as well as a reconsideration of some of our current practices. It may one day allow us to predict the development of clinical allergy in a given patient and might revolutionize our ability to confront the allergy epidemic.
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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Otolaryngic Allergy.
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Tropper, G., Chabane, H. Molecular Allergy: A New Paradigm. Curr Otorhinolaryngol Rep 3, 186–192 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40136-015-0088-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40136-015-0088-7