CHARACTERIZATION OF ALLERGENIC COMPONENTS FROM HOUSE-DUST MITE DERMATOPHAGOIDES-SIBONEY - PURIFICATION OF DER-S-1 AND DER-S-2 ALLERGENS

Background Allergic reactions to house dust mites of the genus Dermato phagoides play an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma and oth er atopic diseases. Dermatophagoides siboney has been described as a s pecies from Cuba. Together with D. pteronyssinus and Blomia tropicalis , it is frequently found in house dust from homes of asthmatics. Objec tives The aim of this study was to investigate the allergenic composit ion from the house dust mite D. siboney. Methods The characterization of D. siboney extract was performed by SDS-gPAGE and immunoblotting. P urification of individual components was performed by affinity chromat ography. Results At least 16 components between 13 and 98 kDa stained by Coomassie Blue were found. Using a panel of 35 sera from atopic mit e sensitive patients 13 components reacted to different extent with pa tient IgE. Two components, 25 and 14 kDa, bound to specific IgE strong ly and frequently, i.e. 80 and 91% of the patients, respectively. Affi nity chromatography using crossreacting monoclonal antibodies to group 1 and 2 allergens resulted in purified preparations of 25 and 14 kDa proteins, which showed IgE-binding with the majority of the human sera when tested by immune-dot. Conclusion Based on the IgE binding profil e of D. siboney, and on the capacity to react with crossreacting monoc lonal antibodies for groups 1 and 2, it is proposed to name these two allergens, 25 and 14 kDa, Der s 1 and Der s 2, respectively.