All 20 Allergens must be taken into account when assessing immune reactions
Little is known of the impact that the 20, or so, mite allergens have on the health of mammals. Traditionally research has focussed on one or two of them (Der p1 and Der p2) consequently they are well described scientifically but researchers have failed to take a ‘snap-shot’ of the total impact all mite allergens have on health. Doctors are now addressing this problem in the interest of science and for the improvement in treating mite allergic patients or those considered at risk from mite related disease. By taking a selection of 9 house dust mite allergens (major and minor) and analyzing, first their individual, and then combined, allegenicity in concert, a truer picture of the impact that mites have on human health will emerge. In future this knowledge can be applied both in research and in helping patients to receive precise individual immunotherapy treatment. The doctors also address a confounding feature; that major house dust mite allergens Der p1 and Der p2 can change depending upon the mite’s habitat world-wide.
‘Determinants of House Dust Mite Allergenicity’, Hales BJ, Nora NR Chu, Bosco A, Smith W-A,Tatjana KH, Thomas W R, Allergy Clin.Immunol.Int.-J.World Allergy Org, 18/2 (2006) ‘Research Trends’, pp 65-70
