The fifth report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecasts that greenhouse gases will increase the global temperature as well as the frequency of extreme weather phenomena. An increasing body of evidence shows the occurrence of severe asthma epidemics during thunderstorms in the pollen season, in various geographical zones. The main hypotheses explaining association betw...

BACKGROUND Allergy vaccines should be easily applicable, safe, and efficacious. For Bet v 1-mediated birch pollen and associated food allergies, a single wild-type allergen does not provide a complete solution. OBJECTIVE We aimed to combine immunologically relevant epitopes of Bet v 1 and the 2 clinically most important related food allergens from apple and hazelnut to a single hybrid protein...

Allergic conjunctivitis (AC), which may be acute or chronic, is associated with rhinitis in 30%-70% of affected individuals, hence the term allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (AR/C). Seasonal and perennial AC is generally milder than the more chronic and persistent atopic and vernal keratoconjunctivitis. Natural allergens like house dust mites (HDM), temperate and subtropical grass and tree pollen ar...

Worldwide more than 200 million individuals are allergic to group 1 grass pollen allergens. We have used the major timothy grass pollen allergen Phl p 1, which cross-reacts with most grass-, corn-, and monocot-derived group 1 allergens to develop a generally applicable strategy for the production of hypoallergenic allergy vaccines. On the basis of the experimentally determined B cell epitopes o...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is indicated for the use in pediatric patients suffering from allergic rhinitis or allergic rhinoconjunctivitis caused by environmental allergens, such as ragweed pollen, grass pollen, and dust mite. This review focuses on recent and relevant studies associated with the use of SLIT for these allergens in children by examining efficacy, safety, a...

Cupressaceae pollen is responsible for winter respiratory allergies in the Mediterranean area. Pollen grains of this diverse family share same characteristics under light microscopy. Consequently, partial contribution each species to airborne spectrum cannot be determined with conventional aerobiological methods. Studies on major aeroallergens offer better information allergic sensitization and...

Preparations of chopped human and monkey lung were used to estimate the reaginic activity of serum from allergic patients. The lung preparation was passively sensitized by incubation with serum taken from the patients, and then challenged with the antigen responsible for the allergy. Measurement of the histamine released from the lung gave a quantitative assessment of the level of reaginic acti...

An ideal vaccine for allergen-specific immunotherapy of type I allergies should display reduced mediator-releasing capacity, induce maturation of APC, and modify the disease-eliciting Th2-dominated allergen-specific response to a more physiological response. We have previously shown that rSbsC-Bet v 1, the recombinant fusion protein of a bacterial surface (S-layer) protein of Geobacillus stearo...

Asthma • Kids with the lowest vitamin D levels in one study needed the highest doses of inhaled steroids to control their asthma • Half of all asthmatics in Denver from Jan-March were shown to be deficient in vitamin D • Higher vitamin D intake by pregnant mothers reduces asthma risk by up to 40% in children age 3-5 years old Allergies • A low level of vitamin D at age 6 was associated with inc...