BACKGROUND Polcalcins are highly cross-reactive pollen panallergens. Less than 10% of allergic patients are sensitized to polcalcins. All pollen species are considered able to sensitize patients to this panallergen. OBJECTIVE We aimed to assess the presence of polcalcins in various pollen extracts used in allergen immunotherapy. METHODS ELISA inhibition experiments were performed with sera ...

BACKGROUND Around 3-5% of the population suffer from IgE-mediated food allergies in Western countries and the number of food-allergenic people is increasing. Individuals with certain pollen allergies may also suffer from a sensitisation to proteins in the food products. As an example a person sensitised to the major birch pollen allergen, Bet v 1, is often sensitised to its homologues, such as ...

Background: Several studies reported the clinical features of IgE-mediated hypersensitivity after ingestion of melon. Melon allergy is a common IgE-mediated fruit allergy in Iran. This prompted us to investigate immunochemical and molecular properties of the major allergen in melon fruit, to compare the IgE-binding capacity of the natural protein with the recombinant allergen, and to determine ...

BACKGROUND Although the efficacy of allergen immunotherapy has been demonstrated in seasonal pollen allergy, there is no report of a double-blind placebo-controlled trial with standardized pollen extract in seasonal respiratory allergy from India. In the agricultural area of eastern India, Phoenix sylvestris Roxb or date sugar palm is grown or cultivated and seasonal allergic rhinitis is common...

During past few years, the Cupressus arizonica has been abundantly planted in Tehran, causing a significant increase of allergic diseases from the middle of winter to the beginning of spring. The aim of this study was the comparison of pollen protein content in two major varieties of C. arizonica planted in Tehran, including C. arizonica var. arizonica and C. arizonica var. glabra, in order to ...

Allergen exposure plays a major role in the development of sensitization, inflammation and symptomatic asthma. The development of new means of detecting allergens has enabled the evaluation of the effect of a reduction in allergen exposure to be better assessed. In order to prevent allergen exposure it is necessary to determine the allergen sources and reservoirs to which avoidance measures sho...

Specific immunotherapy is an efficient treatment for patients suffering from type I allergy. The mechanisms underlying successful immunotherapy are assumed to operate at the level of T helper cells, leading to a modulation of the immune response to allergens. During immunotherapy, increasing doses of allergens are given on a regular basis, and the beneficial effects for the patient depend on th...

INTRODUCTION Much less is known about grass-pollen allergens to dogs, when compared with humans. Genetic-based patterns might play an important role in sensitization profiles, conditioning the success of allergen-specific immunotherapy. AIM Mapping of Dactylis glomerata (D. glomerata) and Phleum pratense (P. pratense) allergens for grass pollen-sensitized atopic dogs, for better understanding...

One problem of conventional allergen-specific immunotherapy is the risk of anaphylactic reactions. A new approach to make immunotherapy safer and more efficient might be the application of engineered allergens with reduced IgE-binding capacity but retained T cell reactivity. Using overlapping dodeca-peptides, the dominant T cell epitopes of the timothy grass pollen allergen Phl p 5b were identi...

Allergen-IgE complexes are more efficiently internalized and presented by B cells than allergens alone. It has been suggested that IgG Abs induced by immunotherapy inhibit these processes. Food-allergic patients have high allergen-specific IgG levels. However, the role of these Abs in complex formation and binding to B cells is unknown. To investigate this, we incubated sera of peanut- or cow's...