An in vitro technique for measuring the relative potency of allergenic extracts has been developed and compared with the dose-response skin-prick test. The in vitro technique is a modification of an ELISA based on the method of antigen capture using polystyrene microtitre wells as solid phase (REINA-competition) and is also based on a dose-response. Both methods have been applied to allergen extracts of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Phleum pratense, Secale cereale, Lolium perenne, Plantago lanceolata, Artemisia vulgaris, Salsola kali and Parietaria judaica. For each allergen, the slope of the regression log-log dose-response lines displayed by skin-prick test and REINA-C does not show a statistically significant difference, being parallel (P < 0.001), and indicating that the allergen-ligand binding kinetics are identical in both methods.

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