Authors:
Hales BJ; Elliot CE; Chai LY; Pearce LJ; Tipayanon T; Hazell L; Stone S; Piboonpocanun S; Thomas WR; Smith WA
Authors notes:
International Archives of Allergy and Immunology. 2012;160(3):233-240
Keywords:
House dust mite, Allergen, Titres
Abstract
The prevalence of IgE binding to the group 15 and 18 house dust mite (HDM) allergens of the Dermatophagoides species is reported to be >50% and they are the major allergens of HDM-sensitised dogs.
The objective was to quantitate the IgE titres to Der p 15 and Der p 18 and evaluate their importance in human HDM sensitisation compared to the known major and mid-tier allergens.
The prevalence of IgE titres to Der p 15 and Der p 18 >0.1 ng/ml was low (38%) and only one subject had a titre >10 ng/ml to either allergen.
The mean anti-Der p 15 and Der p 18 titres were 1.2 and 2.6 ng/ml, respectively, i.e. approximately 10- to 20-fold lower than the response to the major Der p 1 and Der p 2 allergens (p < 0.001).
The IgE responses to Der p 15 and Der p 18 were lower than the mid-tier allergens Der p 5 and Der p 7 and although they correlated with each other, they did not correlate with titres to either the major or mid-tier allergens.
Sensitisation to Der p 15 and Der p 18 makes a minor contribution to anti-HDM IgE titres, and the titres do not correlate with the size of the response to the major allergens