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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

A Component-resolved Diagnostic Approach for a Study on Grass Pollen Allergens in Chinese Southerners with Allergic Rhinitis and/or Asthma
Published on: June 4, 2017
Molecular and immunological characterization of novel weed pollen pan-allergens
N Wopfner1, P Gruber, M Wallner
1Department of Molecular Biology, Christian Doppler Laboratory for Allergy Diagnosis and Therapy, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
Background:
Pan-allergens like profilins, calcium-binding proteins (CBPs), and nonspecific lipid transfer proteins have been suggested as possible specific markers for multiple pollen sensitizations, and could be used to predict cross-sensitization/poly-sensitization to several pollen allergens. Therefore, the purification and characterization of cross-reacting allergens in pollen is an extremely important task towards correct allergy diagnosis.
Methods:
New pan-allergens were identified by screening a ragweed pollen cDNA library with sera of patients allergic to mugwort pollen. Resulting proteins were cloned, expressed, purified and characterized.
Results:
We report complete cDNA sequences of two profilin isoforms (Amb a 8.01 and Amb a 8.02), two isoforms of a 2EF-hand CBP (Amb a 9.01 and Amb a 9.02), a new 3EF-hand CBP (Amb a 10) from ragweed pollen and a 2EF-hand CBP from mugwort (Art v 5). All these proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli, purified to homogeneity and characterized by biochemical and immunological means.
Conclusions:
The identified proteins are novel pan-allergens and can be used as diagnostic markers for polysensitization and used in component-resolved diagnosis.
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