[Allergology in the year 2000].

As already today, the use of fully standardized allergens for specific allergen phenotyping will be essential also in the future. The determination of allergen-reactive patterns in patients will be performed with panels of tracer allergens being produced by molecular biology techniques. Such recombinant allergen proteins can in principal also be used for specific immunotherapy. Undesired biological properties of allergens can be removed by directed mutagenesis. Because recombinant allergens can bind IgE only selectively, T-cell activating fragments thereof may be employed. This may lead to fully artificial protein constructs consisting of immunogenic and allergy-suppressing parts. A different possible way is the therapeutic use of immunologically active proteins, such as monoclonal antibodies or soluble receptors, which suppress IL-4 and/or IgE synthesis. The accessibility of these proteins will lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the development of allergy. At the end of this development one could conceive the construction of low molecular chemical agents, drugs in the classical sense, able to regulate IgE synthesis. Of highest significance will be the establishment of genetic markers for atopy and allergy. Such genes may not only indicate a genetic predisposition for the disease but also open an immense spectrum of new diagnostic and therapeutic applications in allergy.