Recombinant mite allergens. New technologies for the management of patients with asthma

The introduction of molecular cloning techniques has led to advances in allergen identification and sequencing, production of recombinant allergens, identification of B-cell and T-cell epitopes, and tertiary structural analysis of allergen molecules. Over 10 groups of mite allergens have been cloned from Dermatophagoides spp., as well as several homologous allergens from Euroglyphus maynei, Lepidoglyphus destructor, and Blomia tropicalis. The availability of these allergens has made it feasible to consider their use for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Several recombinant Dermatophagoides allergens show comparable reactivity on skin testing and in serologic assays to natural allergens, and cocktails of the recombinant proteins could be used as diagnostic reagents. New technologies have been developed for detection of allergen-specific IgE and for environmental allergen detection using rapid diagnostic tests. Novel approaches to immunotherapy are also being investigated, including T-cell-peptide based vaccines, allergen variants which lack IgE reactivity, and naked DNA vaccines. The application of allergen biotechnology should lead to improvements in the management of mite-allergic patients with asthma and represents a logical step toward reducing asthma mortality and morbidity.