BACKGROUND The cross-reactive allergen responsible for the so called "mugwort-celery-spice-syndrome", a pollen-food allergy that occurs in a minority of mugwort pollen-allergic patients, is still undefined. OBJECTIVE To identify the allergen responsible for the cross-reactivity between mugwort pollen and plant-derived foods. METHODS The serum from one index patient with both fennel and mugw...

BACKGROUND Among birch pollen allergic patients up to 70% develop allergic reactions to Bet v 1-homologue food allergens such as Api g 1 (celery) or Dau c 1 (carrot), termed as birch pollen-related food allergy. In most cases, specific immunotherapy with birch pollen extracts does not reduce allergic symptoms to the homologue food allergens. We therefore genetically engineered a multi-allergen ...

BACKGROUND Allergic rhinitis is a common condition, with ragweed pollen one of the more prevalent aeroallergens. Environmental exposure units such as the Allergen BioCube® are valuable models for clinical allergy studies. A study was conducted to validate the Allergen BioCube for uniform ragweed pollen concentrations and clinically relevant sign and symptom responses to ragweed exposure. METH...

BACKGROUND The adaptive immunity underlying allergy comprises two components, the allergen-specific antibody (i.e. IgE, IgG) and the T-cell response. These two components are responsible for different disease manifestations and can be targeted by different therapeutic approaches. Here, we investigated the association of allergen-specific antibody and T- as well as B-cell responses in pollen-all...

BACKGROUND Allergen exposure via the respiratory tract and in particular via the nasal mucosa boosts systemic allergen-specific IgE production. Intranasal corticosteroids (INCS) represent a first line treatment of allergic rhinitis but their effects on this boost of allergen-specific IgE production are unclear. AIM Here we aimed to determine in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study whether...

BACKGROUND Air pollution is frequently proposed as a potential cause of the increased incidence of allergy in industrialised countries. Our objective was to investigate the impact of the major gaseous air pollutants on grass pollen allergens. METHODS Timothy grass pollen was exposed to ozone (O(3)), nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) and sulphur dioxide (SO(2)) alone or in combination. Allergen content...

Methods We evaluated subjects from Southern Romania, a Central European region with temperate continental climate with submediterranean and humid subtropical influences, where sensitization to Betulaceae pollen is less important in pollinosis compared with that to grass or weed pollen. We selected adult patients from the region of sylvosteppe with low density forests dominated by deciduous spec...

BACKGROUND Current diagnostics for allergies, such as skin prick and radioallergosorbent tests, do not allow for inexpensive, high-throughput screening of patients. Additionally, extracts used in these methods are made from washed pollen that lacks pollen surface materials that may contain allergens. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We sought to develop a high-throughput assay to rapidly measur...

BACKGROUND Grass pollen allergens are a major cause of allergic respiratory disease but traditionally prescribing practice for grass pollen allergen-specific immunotherapy has favoured pollen extracts of temperate grasses. Here we aim to compare allergy to subtropical and temperate grass pollens in patients with allergic rhinitis from a subtropical region of Australia. METHODS Sensitization t...

BACKGROUND Birch pollen is the major allergen in pollinosis in northern Japan. IgE reactivity to individual birch pollen allergens has been shown to differ between populations of birch pollen-allergic patients living in different countries. In this study, we examined the IgE profiles to recombinant birch pollen allergens in birch-sensitive patients living in Sapporo. METHODS This study used t...