Determination of immunogenic epitopes in major house dust mite allergen, Der p 2, via nanoallergens.
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2022;
129:231-240.e2. [PMID:
35405356 PMCID:
PMC9808607 DOI:
10.1016/j.anai.2022.04.003]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Revised: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Despite the high prevalence of allergic asthma, currently, avoidance of the responsible allergens, which is nearly impossible for allergens such as house dust mite (HDM), remains among the most effective treatment. Consequently, determination of the immunogenic epitopes of allergens will aid in developing a better understanding of the condition for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Current methods of epitope identification, however, only evaluate immunoglobulin E-epitope binding interactions, which is not directly related to epitope immunogenicity.
OBJECTIVE
To determine and rank the immunogenicity of the epitopes of major HDM allergen, Der p 2.
METHODS
We performed degranulation assays with RBL-SX38 cells primed using patient plasma and challenged with nanoallergens which multivalently displayed epitopes to study the relative immunogenicity of various epitopes of Der p 2. Nanoallergens were used to evaluate epitopes individually or in combination.
RESULTS
When evaluated using 3 patient samples, 3 epitopes in 2 distal regions of Der p 2 were identified as highly immunogenic when presented in combination, whereas no individual epitope triggered relevant degranulation. One of the epitopes (69-DPNACHYMKCPLVKGQQY-86) was identified to be cooperatively immunogenic when combined with other epitopes.
CONCLUSION
Our study highlights the importance of conformational epitopes in HDM-related allergies. This study also provides further evidence of the versatility of nanoallergens and their value for functional characterization of allergy epitopes, by ranking the Der p 2 epitopes according to immunogenicity. We believe that nanoallergens, by aiding in identification and understanding of immunogenic epitopes, will provide a better understanding of the manifestation of the allergic condition and potentially aid in developing new treatments.
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