Allergy to house dust mites and shrimp - what do we know now?

Allergy to house dust mites is the most common cause of perennial allergic rhinitis in Poland. Shrimps, on the other hand, are a rich source of proteins that may be the cause of hypersensitivity. It is known that tropomyosin of house dust mite is highly homologous to the tropomyosin of shrimps. Several dozen mite allergens have been described so far. Over 97% of patients are sensitized to cysteine protease (Der p 1, Der f 1) and members of the NPC2 protein family (Der p 2, Der f 2). Due to relatively small number of patients allergic to other allergen components of house dust mite, the number of commercially available allergen components of house dust mite is still limited. Nevertheless, the number of commercially available allergen components of house dust mite is constantly increasing, and the interpretation of the result can often cause difficulties. In this article we present house dust mite and shrimp allergens that were described so far. The current diagnostic possibilities in sensitization to these allergens are also presented.