Allergy review series II - Recombinant allergens

A great variety of recombinant plant, mite, mold, mammal, and insect allergens have been expressed in heterologous hosts (e.g., Escherichia coli), their cDNA being used as a template. The number of biologically active recombinant allergens available for experimental, diagnostic, and therapeutic purposes is increasing tremendously. Recombinant allergens have proven to be valuable tools to investigate T-cell and B-cell recognition of allergens as well as to study mechanisms of specific IgE regulation. The immunologic equivalence of many relevant recombinant allergens with their natural counterparts has been demonstrated, and the three-dimensional structures of several recombinant allergens have been described recently. As a result of extensive cross-reactivities among the relevant allergens, it appears that the number of epitopes needed for diagnosis and specific immunotherapy is less diverse than originally anticipated and might be soon covered by recombinant molecules. Recombinant allergens have been used for successful in vitro, as well as in vivo, allergy diagnosis, and work is in progress to produce recombinant allergen derivatives with reduced anaphylactic potential to improve current forms of immunotherapy.