Recombinant Cat and Mite Allergens as Tools in the Study of Diagnosis and Treatment of Allergy

Allergic diseases, such as allergic asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic eczema, are a major health problem world-wide, affecting up to 30% of the population. A large proportion of the patients are allergic to indoor allergens, such as mite and cat allergens, which are airborne and thus cause symptoms in the airways upon inhalation. Hundreds of single allergens from different sources have been identified, cloned and expressed as highly pure and well-defined recombinant allergens. They can be produced in large amounts and are gradually replacing allergen extracts in allergy diagnosis and allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT), the only treatment that may affect the natural course of allergic diseases. SIT may be further improved by genetically modifying allergens into hypoallergens, which have a reduced allergenic capacity, but a retained T-cell reactivity. The aims of this thesis were to clone and characterise new allergens from the storage mite Lepidoglyphus destructor, and to apply the major recombinant cat allergen Fel d 1 in allergy diagnosis and in the construction and evaluation of hypoallergens for use in therapy of cat