ToxSci Advance Access originally published online on July 14, 2004
Toxicological Sciences 2004 81(2):332-343; doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfh213
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Toxicological Sciences vol. 81 no. 2 © Society of Toxicology 2004; all rights reserved.
Development of a Peptide Reactivity Assay for Screening Contact Allergens
* The Procter & Gamble Company, Miami Valley Laboratories, Cincinnati, Ohio 45253-8707, and Université Louis Pasteur, Laboratorie de Dermatochimie, UMR 7123, Strasbourg, France
Received April 26, 2004; accepted June 22, 2004
Allergic contact dermatitis resulting from skin sensitization is a common occupational and environmental health problem. In recent years, the local lymph node assay (LLNA) has emerged as a practical option for assessing the skin sensitization potential of chemicals. In addition to accurate identification of skin sensitizers, the LLNA can also provide a reliable measure of relative sensitization potency; information that is pivotal in successful management of human health risks. However, even with the significant animal welfare benefits provided by the LLNA, there is still interest in the development of nonanimal test methods for skin sensitization testing. One characteristic of a chemical allergen is its ability to react with proteins prior to the induction of skin sensitization. The majority of chemical allergens is electrophilic and as such reacts with nucleophilic amino acids like cysteine or lysine. In order to determine if reactivity correlates with sensitization potential, 38 chemicals representing allergens of different potencies (weak to extreme) and nonsensitizers were evaluated for their ability to react with glutathione or three synthetic peptides containing either cysteine, lysine, or histidine. Following a 15-min reaction time for glutathione or a 24 h reaction period for the three synthetic peptides, the samples were analyzed by HPLC. UV detection was used to monitor the depletion of glutathione or the peptide following reaction. The results demonstrate that a significant correlation (Spearman correlation) exists between allergen potency and the depletion of glutathione (p = 0.001), lysine (p = 0.025), and cysteine (p = 0.020), but not histidine. The peptide with the highest sensitivity was cysteine (80.8%) whereas histidine was the least sensitive (11.5%). The data presented show that measuring peptide reactivity has utility for screening chemicals for their skin sensitization potency and thus potential for reducing our reliance on animal test methods.
Key Words: allergens; alternatives; skin sensitization; peptide reactivity.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  D. A. Basketter Nonanimal Alternatives for Skin Sensitization: A Step Forward? Toxicol. Sci., March 1, 2008; 102(1): 1 - 2. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Natsch and R. Emter Skin Sensitizers Induce Antioxidant Response Element Dependent Genes: Application to the In Vitro Testing of the Sensitization Potential of Chemicals Toxicol. Sci., March 1, 2008; 102(1): 110 - 119. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. F. Gerberick, J. D. Vassallo, L. M. Foertsch, B. B. Price, J. G. Chaney, and J.-P. Lepoittevin Quantification of Chemical Peptide Reactivity for Screening Contact Allergens: A Classification Tree Model Approach Toxicol. Sci., June 1, 2007; 97(2): 417 - 427. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|