Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)

Editor

Personal info

View

About

Terms

Javascript disabled

Please enable Javascript support in your browser to use this application.

Instructions on how to enable JavaScript on different browsers can be found here: http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=23852.

[edit this page]

Kussebi, F. et al.

Kussebi, Karamloo, Rhyner, Schmid-Grendelmeier, Salagianni, Mannhart, Akdis, Soldatova, Markovic-Housley, Von Beust, Kündig, Kemeny, Blaser, Crameri, Akdis,

A major allergen gene-fusion protein for potential usage in allergen-specific immunotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Specific immunotherapy is a common treatment of allergic diseases and could potentially be applied to other immunologic disorders. Despite its use in clinical practice, more defined and safer allergy vaccine preparations are required. Differences between epitopes of IgE that recognize the 3-dimensional structure of allergens and T cells that recognize linear amino acid sequences provide a suitable tool for novel vaccine development for specific immunotherapy. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to delete B-cell epitopes and prevent IgE crosslinking, but to preserve T-cell epitopes by fusion of 2 major allergens of bee venom because of a change in the conformation. METHODS: By genetic engineering, we produced a fusion protein composed of the 2 major bee venom allergens: phospholipase A 2 (Api m 1) and hyaluronidase (Api m 2). RESULTS: The Api m [1/2] fusion protein induced T-cell proliferation and both T H 1-type and T H 2-type cytokine responses. In contrast, IgE reactivity was abolished, and profoundly reduced basophil degranulation and type 1 skin test reactivity was observed. Pretreatment of mice with Api m [1/2] fusion protein significantly suppressed the development of specific IgE as well as other antibody isotypes after immunization with the native allergen. CONCLUSION: The novel fusion protein of 2 major allergens bypasses IgE binding and mast cell/basophil IgE FcepsilonRI crosslinking and protects from IgE development.[1]

References

A major allergen gene-fusion protein for potential usage in allergen-specific immunotherapy. Kussebi, F., Karamloo, F., Rhyner, C., Schmid-Grendelmeier, P., Salagianni, M., Mannhart, C., Akdis, M., Soldatova, L., Markovic-Housley, Z., Von Beust, B.R., Kündig, T., Kemeny, D.M., Blaser, K., Crameri, R., Akdis, C.A. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. (2005) [Pubmed]

Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenes Open Access Licence Privacy Policy Terms of Use apsburg

The world's first wiki where authorship really matters (Nature Genetics, 2008). Due credit and reputation for authors. Imagine a global collaborative knowledge base for original thoughts. Search thousands of articles and collaborate with scientists around the globe.