Abstract
Among the vast number of identified protein families, allergens emanate from relatively few families which translates to only a small fraction of identified protein families. In allergy diagnostics and immunotherapy, interactions between immunoglobulin E and allergens are crucial because the formation of an allergen-antibody complex is necessary for triggering an allergic reaction. In allergic diseases, there is a phenomenon known as cross-reactivity. Cross-reactivity describes a situation where an individual has produced antibodies against a particular allergenic protein, but said antibodies fail to discriminate between the original sensitizer and other similar proteins that usually belong to the same family. To expound the concept of cross-reactivity, this study examines ten protein families that include allergens selected specifically for the analysis of cross-reactivity. The selected allergen families had at least 13 representative proteins, overall folds that differ significantly between families, and include relevant allergens with various potencies. The selected allergens were analyzed using information on sequence similarities and identities between members of the families as well as reports on clinically relevant cross-reactivities. Based on our analysis, we propose to introduce a new A-RISC index (Allergens’–Relative Identity, Similarity and Cross-reactivity) which describes homology between two allergens belonging to the same protein family and is used to predict the likelihood of cross-reactivity between them. Information on sequence similarities and identities, as well as on the values of the proposed A-RISC index is used to introduce four categories describing a risk of a cross-reactive reaction, namely: high, medium-high, medium-low and low. The proposed approach can facilitate analysis in component-resolved allergy diagnostics, generation of avoidance guidelines for allergic individuals, and help with the design of immunotherapy.
Highlights
Allergens originate from many different sources and can stimulate the human immune system to produce immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies and/or are responsible for eliciting symptoms of allergy in sensitized individuals
Interactions between IgE and allergens are crucial for allergic diseases, as the formation of an allergen-antibody complex is necessary for triggering an allergic reaction
This study included allergens that are registered by the World Health Organization and International Union of Immunological Societies (WHO/IUIS) Allergen Nomenclature Sub-committee as well as allergens that are listed by Allergome and/or Allfam and not officially registered
Summary
Allergens originate from many different sources and can stimulate the human immune system to produce immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies and/or are responsible for eliciting symptoms of allergy in sensitized individuals. In molecular allergology there is significant effort directed to understanding interactions between allergens and antibodies [8,9,10,11]. Such efforts aim to identify IgE binding epitopes and epitope-paratope interactions [8, 12, 13]. In parallel with the increase in knowledge on allergen structures, there is an astonishing improvement of allergen purification and standardization methodology This allows for the identification of allergens even in complex mixtures and facilitate characterization of these molecules [17,18,19,20,21]. The production of recombinant allergens has become a standard practice, and it has a direct impact on allergy diagnostics and immunotherapy [16, 22,23,24,25]
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