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.