Estimation of the allergen content of house dust samples by enzymatic assay

House dust extracts contain protease and acid phosphatase activities which can be shown to be related to the content of major allergens for humans. A study of the quantitative association between measured enzyme activities and the potency of the extracts to bind IgE antibodies from the serum of house-dust-allergic patients is presented. Since major allergens from mites and other insects contributing to the allergenic potential of household dust on chemical isolation coincide with proteolytic enzymes, and since the bulk of pollen allergenic activity is related to acid phosphatase, the method presented here allows the quantitative appraisal of the contribution of the biomass of animal and plant origin to the allergenic potency of environmental dust samples without the use of human blood samples as sources of specific antibodies.