BACKGROUND Specific IgE antibodies against the low-molecular-weight carbohydrate antigen that does not bridge IgE molecules on mast cells are not associated with clinical symptoms. Cross reactivity can be determined in allergen-specific IgE detection assays when the carbohydrate structures between pollen allergens and plant derived food allergens are similar; in such cases, false positive resul...

Background Wheat is one of the most important food allergen sources. Using natural wheat allergen extracts for serological diagnosis of wheat-induced food allergy false positive test results are frequently obtained, in particular in grass pollen allergic patients. Therefore, Tri a 19, an omega-5-gliadin, which is known as a major allergen in wheat dependent exercise induced anaphylaxis (WDEIA) ...

Allergy diagnosis and immunotherapy in Korea rely mostly on imported allergen extracts. However, some allergens that are not important in Western countries are not commercially available, and even the same species of allergen source often displays differences in allergenicity due to amino acid sequence polymorphisms. Therefore, it is essential to prepare allergen extracts that reflect regional ...

Background: Allergy is a clinical disorder affecting the human population with wide geographical distribution. Platanus orientalis (P. orientalis) trees are planted in many countries and their pollen causes allergic reactions. Cyclophilin has recently been identified as one of the most important allergens of P. orientalis pollen. We aimed to clone and purify this allergen in Escherichia coli...

Parallel to experimental immunological studies we performed computer simulations of the Phl p 6 allergen from timothy grass (Phleum pratense) pollen employing the Austrian Grid’s [1] infrastructure. The molecular dynamics studies were carried out for up to 40ns simulation time investigating the stability of the allergen. Additionally the reaction of the allergen to drastic sequence modification...

background: allergy to saffron (crocus sativus) pollen has been described in people involved in processing of saffron flower stamens. profilins have been identified as a pan-allergen in different plant pollens and foods. this molecule is an actin-binding pro-tein with a molecular weight of 12-16 kda found in eukaryotic species. objective: the aim of this study was to generate monoclonal antibod...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Naturally occurring anti-idiotypic antibodies structurally mimic the original antibody epitope. Anti-idiotypes, therefore, are interesting tools for the portrayal of conformational B-cell epitopes of allergens. In this study we used this strategy particularly for major timothy grass pollen (Phleum pratense) allergen Phl p 1. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used a combinatorial pha...

In this study, we used HLA-DRB1*0101, DRB1*0401, and DRB1*1501 peptide tetramers combined with cytokine surface capture assays to characterize CD4(+) T cell responses against the immunodominant T cell epitope (peptide 141-155) from the major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1, in both healthy and allergic individuals. We could detect Bet v 1-specific T cells in the PBMC of 20 birch pollen allergic p...

Recombinant allergens are a promising alternative to crude allergen extracts for diagnosis and therapy of allergic diseases. Genetically modified allergen derivatives with reduced allergenic activity but retaining their immunogenicity have also been produced to increase safety and specificity of allergen-specific immunotherapy. When a limited number of allergens are responsible for most of the ...

Group V major allergen Phl p 5b of timothy grass pollen induces allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma in 90% of grass pollen-allergic patients. In addition to its allergenicity ribonuclease activity has recently been attributed to this 29-kDa protein. The allergen was expressed in Escherichia coli and subsequently purified. Spontaneous conversion of these preparations to a mixture of various f...