Recombinant Proteins and Peptides as Diagnostic and Therapeutic Reagents for Arthropod Allergies

Abstract

Domestic arthropods are chief sources of potent allergens that trigger sensitization and stimulate IgE-mediated allergies. Diagnosis and immunotherapy of arthropod allergies rely on the use of natural allergen extracts which are associated with low specificity and efficacy, the risk of anaphylactic reactions, and the extended period of treatment. Most of the problems associated with natural allergen extracts for allergy diagnosis and immunotherapy can be circumvented with the use of recombinant allergens and peptides. Recombinant allergens are recently developed for microarray-based multi-allergen tests which provide component-resolved diagnosis (CRD) of the patient's sensitization profile. Moreover, recombinant protein technology and peptide chemistry have been used to construct isoallergens, allergen mutants, allergoids, T and B cell peptides, hypoallergens, and mimotopes with reduced allergenicity but enhanced immunogenicity for allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT) and vaccination. The basics of recombinant arthropod allergen technology are in place providing a lucid future for the advancement of diagnosis and immunotherapy of arthropod allergies.

Molecular allergy diagnosis: Status anno 2015

“…These so-called "gatekeeper" tests allow an improved discrimination between genuine allergy and merely sensitization [5,[12][13][14] and furthermore enables us to establish personalized sensitization patterns (with constituent components of a particular allergen that are recognized by the individual patient) [12,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Determining the sensitization profile of an individual patient creates the opportunity to assess the individual risk of severity of an allergic reaction and to predict the natural course (outgrow vs. persistence).…”

Expression, epitope prediction and IgE‑binding of the <em>Tyrophagus putrescentiae</em> group 13 allergen

“…However, natural allergen extracts are associated with a number of issues, including unpredictable amounts of allergens and non-allergenic components in natural extracts, which can lead to serious immediate and late side effects ( 7 , 8 ). The majority of these issues in allergy diagnosis and AIT can be circumvented with the use of recombinant allergens and peptides ( 9 ). In order to improve the safety of AIT, researchers have turned their attention to recombinant allergens with modified B-cell epitopes, which can prevent IgE binding, but with intact T-cell epitopes to produce an immunotherapeutic benefit ( 10 ).…”