Cross-allergenicity between dandelion and major weed pollens

Ji Hye Kim; Moon-Kyung Yoon; Mi-Ae Kim; Yoo-Seob Shin; Young Min Ye; Hae-Sim Park

doi:10.4168/aard.2015.3.5.358

Journal List > Allergy Asthma Respir Dis > v.3(5) > 1059130

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Kim, Yoon, Kim, Shin, Ye, and Park: Cross-allergenicity between dandelion and major weed pollens

Original Article

Allergy Asthma Respir Dis 2015;3(5):358-364.

Published online: 12 September 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4168/aard.2015.3.5.358

Cross-allergenicity between dandelion and major weed pollens

Ji Hye Kim¹, Moon-Kyung Yoon¹, Mi-Ae Kim², Yoo-Seob Shin¹, Young Min Ye¹, Hae-Sim Park¹

^¹Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Ajou University Hospital, Suwon, Korea

^²Department of Pulmonology-Allergy, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Korea

Correspondence to: Hae-Sim Park http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2614-0303 Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Ajou University Hospital, 164 World cup-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon 16499, Korea Tel: +92-31-219-5196, Fax: +82-31-219-5154, E-mail: hspark@ajou.ac.kr

^* • This study was supported by a grant from the Korean Health Technology R&D Project funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, ROK (H14C2628).

Received 3 July 2015 Revised 22 July 2015 Accepted 5 August 2015

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The prevalence of pollinosis is increasing, and it is expected to increase further with climate change. Mugwort and ragweed pollens are well known as prevalent allergenic weed pollens in Korea. However, the clinical significance of dandelion pollen as an inhalant allergen has not yet been studied. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance and cross-allerge-nicity between dandelion and major weed pollens.

Methods

Ninety-seven patients with allergic rhinitis and asthma or with allergic rhinitis alone who were sensitized to dandelion pollens on skin prick tests (allergen/histamine ratio>3) were enrolled between December, 2012 and November, 2013. Serum specific IgE levels to dandelion pollen extracts were measured by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). ELISA inhibition tests were performed to evaluate cross allergenecity with other weed pollens.

Results

When the positive cutoff value for serum specific IgE was set at the mean±3 standard deviation of absorbance values, 52 patients (53.6%) had a high serum specific IgE antibody level. ELISA inhibition tests showed significant inhibitions with serial addition of dandelion pollen extracts, and 5 different inhibition patterns were noted with addition of 4 weed pollen extracts: significant inhibitions with pollens of mugwort, ragweed, chenopodium and Hop J (25%, 13 of 52), inhibitions with pollens of mugwort, ragweed and chenopodium (17.3%, 9 of 52), inhibitions with 2 pollens of mugwort and ragweed (32.6%, 17 of 52), inhibitions with mugwort pollen (21.1%, 11 of 52), and inhibitions with dandelion pollen alone (4%, 2 of 52).

Conclusion

These findings suggest that dandelion pollen may be a causative inhalant allergen to induce pollinosis in the autumn season. Cross-allergenicity with other weed pollens showed individual differences; most patients had cross-reactivity with mugwort, ragweed, and chenopodium pollens, while some with Hop J pollen. Few patients were sensitized to dandelion pollen alone.

Keywords: Taraxacum officinale, Cross-allergenicity, Pollinosis

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Fig. 1.

Detection of serum specific IgE antibodies to dandelion pollen extracts by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in sera from 97 allergic rhinitis patients (^●) and 44 normal controls (^■).

Fig. 2.

IgE-ELISA inhibition results for dandelion pollen extracts by serial addition of dandelion, mugwort, ragweed, Chenopodium album, and Japanese hop pollen extracts. (A) inhibition with 4 weed pollens; (B) inhibition with 3 weed pollens, including mugwort, ragweed, and C. album pollen; (C) inhibition with 2 weed pollens, including mugwort and ragweed pollens; (D) inhibition with mugwort pollen; and (E) inhibition with dandelion pollen alone. ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Fig. 3.

Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis findings of dandelion pollen extracts using 4%–20% gel. M, marker; 1, 40 μg of dandelion pollen; 2, 60 μg of dandelion pollen.

Fig. 4.

IgE immunoblot analysis of dandelion pollen extracts using sera of 22 patients with allergic rhinitis. M, marker; N, normal control; B, blank. A, B, C, D, and E according to Fig. 2.

Fig. 5.

Frequency of IgE-binding components to dandelion pollen extracts by immunoblot analysis. *Indicates the IgE-binding component found in more than 50% of the allergic rhinitis patients tested.

Table 1.

Clinical characteristics of the study subjects (n=97)

Characteristic	Value
Age (yr)	34.67±16.43
Male sex	49 (51)
AR	97 (100)
AR combined with BA	21 (21.6)
Total IgE (IU/L)^∗	659.9±813.7
Atopy^†	97 (100)

Values are presented as mean±standard deviation or number (%). AR, allergic rhinitis; BA, bronchial asthma.

^∗ Total IgE levels are presented as geometric mean±geometric standard deviation.

^† Atopy was defined as having more than 1 positive response to common inhalant allergens (i.e., tree mixture, grass mixture, mugwort, ragweed, cat fur, dog fur, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides farina, and Alternaria alternata) on the skin prick test.

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