Structure and biology of stinging insect venom allergens

Bees, fire ants and vespids cause insect sting allergy. These insects have unique as well as common venom allergens. Vespids, including hornets, paper wasps and yellow jackets, have common allergens. Bees and vespids have one common allergen with hyaluronidase activity; they also have unique allerge ns with different phospholipase activities. Fire ants and vespids have one common allergen, antigen 5 of unknown biologic activity. The common venom a llergens with < 70% sequence identity have barely detectable levels of anti genic crossreactivity, Possible uses of modified allergens for immunotherap y are described. Copyright (C) 2000S. Karger AG, Basel.