Click-Chemistry Based Allergen Arrays Generated by Polymer Pen Lithography for Mast Cell Activation Studies.

The profiling of allergic responses is a powerful tool in biomedical research and in judging therapeutic outcome in patients suffering from allergy. Novel insights into the signaling cascades and easier readouts can be achieved by shifting activation studies of bulk immune cells to the single cell level on patterned surfaces. The functionality of dinitrophenol (DNP) as a hapten in the induction of allergic reactions has allowed the activation process of single mast cells seeded on patterned surfaces to be studied following treatment with allergen specific Immunoglobulin E antibodies.