Recombinant Allergens in Structural Biology, Diagnosis, and Immunotherapy

The years 1988–1995 witnessed the beginning of allergen cloning and the generation of recombinant allergens, which opened up new avenues for the diagnosis and research of human allergic diseases. Most crystal and solution structures of allergens have been obtained using recombinant allergens. Structural information on allergens allows insights into their evolutionary biology, illustrates clinically observed cross-reactivities, and makes the design of hypoallergenic derivatives for allergy vaccines possible. Recombinant allergens are widely used in molecule-based allergy diagnosis such as protein microarrays or suspension arrays. Recombinant technologies have been used to produce well-characterized, noncontaminated vaccine components with known biological activities including a variety of allergen derivatives with reduced IgE reactivity. Such recombinant hypoallergens as well as wild-type recombinant allergens have been used successfully in several immunotherapy trials for more than a decade to treat birch and grass pollen allergy. Published online: May 4, 2017 Correspondence to: Prof. Dr. Heimo Breiteneder Department of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Center for Pathophysiology Infectiology and Immunology, Medical University of Vienna Währinger Gürtel 18–20, AKH-EBO-3Q, AT–1090 Vienna (Austria) E-Mail heimo.breiteneder @ meduniwien.ac.at © 2017 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel www.karger.com/iaa Th is article is licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BYNC-ND) (http://www.karger.com/Services/OpenAccessLicense). Usage and distribution for commercial purposes as well as any distribution of modifi ed material requires written permission. D ow nl oa de d by : 54 .7 0. 40 .1 1 10 /3 /2 01 7 5: 19 :5 4 P M