Abstract
Alternaria alternata is the most important allergenic fungus, with up to 20% of allergic patients affected. The sensitization profile of patients sensitized to A. alternata and how it changes when treated with immunotherapy is not known. Our objective is to determine the allergen recognition pattern of allergic patients to A. alternata and to study its association to the parameters studied in a clinical trial recently published. Sera of 64 patients from the clinical trial of immunotherapy with native major allergen Alt a 1 were analyzed by immunoblotting; 98. 4% of the patients recognized Alt a 1. The percentage of recognition for Alt a 3, Alt a 4, and/or Alt a 6, Alt a 7, Alt a 8, Alt a 10 and/or Alt a 15 was 1.6%, 21.9%, 12.5%, 12.5%, and 12.5% respectively. Of the 64 patients, 45 (70.3%) only recognized Alt a 1 among the allergens present in the A. alternata extract. Immunotherapy with Alt a 1 desensitizes treated patients, reducing their symptoms and medication consumption through the elimination of Alt a 1 sensitization, which is no longer present in the immunoblotting of some patients. There may be gender differences in the pattern of sensitization to A. alternata allergens, among others.
Highlights
The genus Alternaria belongs to the subclass of Hyphomycetidae, Fungi imperfecti, and is characterized by septate hyphae and reproduction by multicellular conidia, called pheodictic dictyospores
The allergenic extract of A. alternata was obtained using collection strain 103.33., being the same strain used for the purification and isolation of Alt a 1 for its use in molecular immunotherapy of patients sensitized to A. alternata
The presence of the main allergens described for A. alternata in the allergenic extract was determined by LC-MS
Summary
The genus Alternaria belongs to the subclass of Hyphomycetidae, Fungi imperfecti, and is characterized by septate hyphae and reproduction by multicellular conidia, called pheodictic dictyospores. The conidia are transversely septate and acquire the appearance of mace, forming long chains. The species of the genus Alternaria present colonies of filamentous appearance and gray, brown, or black colors [1]. The saprophytic character and the ability to adapt to a wide range of climatic conditions allow a universal distribution and development, both outdoors and indoors, especially in hot and dry climates, where, at the end of summer, atmospheric counts can exceed 7000 conidia/m3 , with 300/m3 indoors [2]. A range between 80 and 300 conidia/m3 has been established as the threshold concentrations of Alternaria capable of eliciting allergic symptoms [3]. More than different species belonging to the genus Alternaria have been isolated [4]
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