In 1873, Charles Harrison Blackley recognised pollen as the cause of hay fever and ‘‘hay asthma’’ [1]. For the first time, he collected pollen grains with a kite that had a sticky tail and then he counted them. Being affected by seasonal asthma himself, he also performed the first skin prick test on his own arm. Since then, aerobiology (from Greek á r, aēr, ‘‘air’’; bioz, bios, ‘‘life’’; and -l...

Due to the wide distribution and heavy pollen production of grasses, approximately 50% of allergic patients are sensitized against grass pollen allergens. cDNAs coding for two isoforms and four fragments of a major timothy grass (Phleum pratense) pollen allergen, Phl p 6, were isolated by IgE immunoscreening from a pollen expression cDNA library. Recombinant Phl p 6 (rPhl p 6), an acidic protei...

BACKGROUND Late allergic reactions are common in the course of allergen-specific immunotherapy and even occur with allergy vaccines with reduced IgE reactivity. OBJECTIVE We sought to study atopy patch test (APT) reactions and T-cell responses to the recombinant birch pollen allergen Bet v 1 and recombinant hypoallergenic T-cell epitope-containing Bet v 1 fragments in patients with birch poll...

Summary Introduction. Phleum pratense (Timothy grass) is the most frequent cause of grass allergy in Europe. Molecular-based allergy diagnostics have been recently introduced in the clinical practice, allowing to define and characterize exactly the sensitization profile. Aim of the study. The present study was aimed to investigate the possible relationships between Graminaceae pollen data and t...

BACKGROUND Exhaled nitric oxide (NO) has been proposed as a marker of airway eosinophilic inflammation in asthma. There is currently a paucity of longitudinal data relating it to allergen exposure and asthma symptoms. METHODS Forty four children (6-16 years) with seasonal allergic asthma were sequentially followed before and during the grass pollen season. Asthma symptoms, lung function, NO l...

BACKGROUND Birch pollen-associated plant food allergy is caused by Bet v 1-specific IgE, but presence of cross-reactive IgE to related allergens does not predict food allergy. The role of other immunoglobulin isotypes in the birch pollen-plant food syndrome has not been investigated in detail. METHODS Bet v 1-sensitized birch pollen-allergic patients (n = 35) were diagnosed for food allergy b...

Seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) to the Japanese cedar, Cryptomeria japonica (JC) pollen is an IgE-mediated type I allergy affecting nasal mucosa. However, the molecular events underlying its development remain unclear. We sought to identify SAR-associated altered gene expression in nasal epithelial cells during natural exposure to JC pollen. We recruited study participants in 2009 and 2010 and...

Thirty-eight of forty patients, allergic to the pollen of dwarf and giant ragweed, were found to be allergic also to the pollen of botanically related species. There was definite variation in the degree of reactivity to the various pollens in different patients. One additional patient reacted to dwarf ragweed but not to giant ragweed or to four other composites. Antibody neutralization studies ...

BACKGROUND Seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) is characterised by an inflammation consequent to allergen exposure. Nitric oxide may be involved in allergic inflammation. OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the serum nitrite concentrations in SAR patients during and outside pollen exposure in order to estimate activity of nitric oxide synthases. METHODS One hundred and two (56 females, 46 males, me...

Allergen-specific IgE is linked to asthma pathogenesis, but the underlying mechanisms of IgE production in response to allergen exposure are poorly understood. In this article, we show that B cell-intrinsic MyD88 is essential for IgE/IgG1 production evoked by ragweed pollen instilled into lungs. MyD88-deficient mice showed defective IgE/IgG1 production and germinal center responses to lung inst...