December 15, 2013

Alpha-Actinin Is a New Type of House Dust Mite Allergen

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PLoS One. 2013; 8(12): e81377.
Published online 2013 December 6. doi:  10.1371/journal.pone.0081377
PMCID: PMC3855699

Alpha-Actinin Is a New Type of House Dust Mite Allergen

Jörg Hermann Fritz, Editor

Abstract

Main indoor allergens for humans are from house dust mites. There are more than 30 allergens inDermatophagoides farinae but only fourteen allergens have been identified from this mite including Der f 1–3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13–18, and 22. A native allergen protein (Der f 24, 90 kDa) was purified from D. farinae by gel filtration and anionic exchange liquid chromatography combined with IgE immunodetection. Its primary structure was determined by Edman degradation, mass spectrometry analysis and cDNA cloning. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition tests (ELISA-IT), immunoblots, basophil activation test (BAT) and skin prick test (SPT) were performed to evaluate the allergenicity. It was identified as an alpha (α)-actinin containing a CaM-like domain with EF-hand motifs. Der f 24 reacted to sera from 85.4% (35/41) of patients on western blot analysis. It reduced ~20% sera IgE reactivity to D. farinae extracts on a competitive ELISA. Eighty percent (8/10) of patients withD. farinae allergy showed positive reactions to Der f 24 in skin prick test. The expression of CD63 on basophils from patients was up-regulated by Der f 24 by ~5.4-fold. Alpha-actinin was identified as a new type of house dust mite allergen. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of α-actinin as an allergen.

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