Characterization of epitope specificities of reference antibodies used for the quantification of the birch pollen allergen Bet v 1.

MAbs 5B4 and 6H4 recognize structurally distinct epitopes present in the vast majority of Bet v 1 isoforms. These results support the relevance as a reference method of the Bet v 1-specific quantitative ELISA adopted by the European Pharmacopoeia.