Brusic Vladimir
Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Land and Food Sciences, and Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia.
Inflamm Allergy Drug Targets. 2006 Jan;5(1):35-42. doi: 10.2174/187152806775269277.
Microarrays and other large-scale screening technologies produce quantities of increasingly complex allergy data. These data link molecular and clinical measurements and observations and provide fertile ground for improving our understanding of the processes involved in allergic reactions. Information technology is employed in gathering, storage, retrieval and analysis of these data. The increasing proportion of allergy data are generated from genomics and proteomics approaches. The major activity focuses on characterization of allergens including IgE reactivity, structural properties, and mapping of IgE and T-cell epitopes. Because of the complexity of allergy data, their utilization requires bioinformatics approaches. Allergen data are stored in the general and specialist databases. At least a dozen of important allergen databases and data repositories have been developed to date. These data are analysed using general and specialist bioinformatics tools. The major applications of bioinformatics include support for allergen characterization, assessment of allergenicity, and identification of allergic cross-reactivity. These applications in turn support the development of vaccines and therapies for allergic disease. In this article we review allergen databases and tools for the analysis of allergens, and discuss the new directions in the field supported by large scale screening involving genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics support.
微阵列和其他大规模筛选技术产生了数量日益增多且愈发复杂的过敏数据。这些数据将分子测量与临床测量及观察联系起来，为增进我们对过敏反应所涉及过程的理解提供了丰富的素材。信息技术被用于这些数据的收集、存储、检索及分析。越来越多的过敏数据源自基因组学和蛋白质组学方法。主要活动集中在过敏原的表征，包括IgE反应性、结构特性以及IgE和T细胞表位的图谱绘制。由于过敏数据的复杂性，其利用需要生物信息学方法。过敏原数据存储在通用和专业数据库中。迄今为止，已开发出至少十二个重要的过敏原数据库和数据储存库。这些数据使用通用和专业的生物信息学工具进行分析。生物信息学的主要应用包括支持过敏原表征、评估致敏性以及识别过敏交叉反应性。这些应用反过来又支持过敏性疾病疫苗和疗法的开发。在本文中，我们综述了过敏原数据库和过敏原分析工具，并讨论了由涉及基因组学、蛋白质组学和生物信息学支持的大规模筛选所推动的该领域新方向。
