Human skin test Skimune™ for the immunogenicity, sensitivity and potency assessment of novel comp

The project aim is to further examine the ability of SkimuneTM to predict hypersensitivity to compounds and distinguish sensitizers from non-sensitizers with a focus on respiratory compounds and pre/pro-haptens.

Compounds treated monocytic derived DC’s are cultured with autologous T-cells followed by further culture with addition of autologous skin. T-cell proliferation and the Interferon-γ secretion were measured in separate assays. The skin explants were analysed histologically and graded (Grade I to IV).

The result show the assay is able to identify pre/pro-haptens and respiratory compounds as per LLNA assay. Some false positive compounds were also identified which in recent studies have been shown to be positive in humans, therefore the assay appears to be a good model for efficacy. The assay is a possible alternative to the use of animal models for the detection of sensitizers, non-sensitizers, per/pro-haptens and immunogenic respiratory compounds