STUDIES ON SHARED ANTIGENIC ALLERGENIC COMPONENTS AMONG FUNGI

Fungal allergens have been found to be one of the most prevalent aeroa llergens in India. Knowledge of shared/unique components among differe nt fungi is necessary for proper diagnosis and treatment of patients a llergic to fungi. In the present study, crude extracts (CE) of 11 comm on fungi (Altenaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus, Asp. fumigatus, Asp . niger, Asp. tamarii, Asp. versicolor, Cladosporium herbarum, Curvula ria lunata, Mucor hiemalis, Penicillium citrinum, and Fusarium solani) were characterized by isoelectric focusing (IEF), SDS-PAGE, and immun oblot. On IEF (pI 3-9), the number of protein bands was found to be gr eatest (46) in M. hiemalis extract. SDS-PAGE exhibited a varied number of bands, generally 18-40, with mel. mass ranging from 14 to 100 kDa. IgG-specific immunoprint using rabbit anti-F. solani CF antibodies de monstrated a mel. mass distribution of shared antigenic proteins of 14 -100 kDa in most of the fungi. Shared allergenicity was observed in a number of allergenic proteins in fungal extracts with mel. mass rangin g between 14 and 70 kDa on IgE-specific immunoblot using pooled sera o f patients allergic to Fusarium. A 45-kDa protein was found to be comm on among these fungi on immunoblot with patients as well as with rabbi t antibodies. F. solani CF extract contained more antigenic/allergenic proteins than F. solani CE. It was concluded that F. solani CF shared several antigenic/allergenic components with CE of other common fungi . This fact needs to be taken into account when fungal extracts are us ed in diagnosis and immunotherapy of allergic patients.