Fig. 2.

cHBIs form covalent bonds selectively with target sIgEs. (A) Fluorescein-tagged cHBI^Arah2:Arah6 binds to sIgEs in patient serum (serum 4) as detected by ELISA. Serum from healthy volunteers was used as a control. RFU, relative fluorescence unit. (B) cHBI^Arah2/epi5 inhibits the binding of Ara h 2 to IgE in serum 4. ELISA was used to monitor binding of Ara h 2 to IgE from serum 4 after incubation with cHBI^Arah2/epi5. cHBI^Scrambled (cHBI presenting a nonspecific peptide) was used as control. (C) Assessment of cHBI toxicity in vivo. Body weight of C57BL/6 mice injected (i.v.) with a single injection of 0.3, 1, or 3 mg/kg cHBI^Arah2:Arah6 was assessed as a measure of systemic toxicity. PBS was used as control. (D) Organ weight of mice killed 3 d after receiving a single i.v. injection of 0.3, 1, or 3 mg/kg cHBI^Arah2:Arah6 was assessed. (E) Organ weight from D, 14 d postinjection. Data represent the mean ± SEM of six mice per group.