Evaluation of the allergenic relationship between Humulus japonicus and Humulus lupulus pollen allergens

Chang-Gyu Jung; Eun-Mi Yang; Ji-Ho Lee; Hyun Mi Kim; Hae-Sim Park

doi:10.4168/aard.2017.5.4.217

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Jung, Yang, Lee, Kim, and Park: Evaluation of the allergenic relationship between Humulus japonicus and Humulus lupulus pollen allergens

Original Article

Allergy Asthma Respir Dis 2017;5(4):217-222.

Published online: 5 July 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4168/aard.2017.5.4.217

Evaluation of the allergenic relationship between Humulus japonicus and Humulus lupulus pollen allergens

Chang-Gyu Jung, Eun-Mi Yang, Ji-Ho Lee, Hyun Mi Kim, Hae-Sim Park

Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea

Correspondence to: Hae-Sim Park https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2164-0303 Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Ajou University School of Medicine, 206 World cup-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon 16499, Korea Tel: +82-31-219-5196, Fax: +82-31-219-5154, E-mail: hspark@ajou.ac.kr

• This research was supported by a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number: HI16C0992).

Received 28 February 201729 March 2017 Accepted 14 April 2017

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

Humulus japonicus pollen (Hop J) is a major cause of inhalant allergy in autumn of the Far East countries, and its allergenic potency has been increasing with climate changes. Allergen immunotherapy has been considered in Hop J-sensitized allergic patients; however, Hop J allergen extracts for immunotherapy are not commercially available. We speculate that Humulus lupulus pollen (Hop L) belonged to the same genus may share cross-reacting allergens with Hop J and evaluated allergenic relationships between these 2 pollens.

Methods

Thirteen patients with allergic rhinitis and/or asthma sensitive to Hop J pollens were enrolled in Ajou University Hospital, Suwon, Korea. Hop J pollens were collected locally and lyophilized extracts were prepared, while lyophilized Hop L extracts were provided by Lofarma S.p.A. IgE-ELISA/enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) inhibition tests, sodium dodecyl sulphate-poly-acrylamide gel electrophoresis and IgE-immunoblot/immunoblot inhibition analysis using sera from the enrolled subjects were performed.

Results

All patients had high serum specific IgE to both Hop J and Hop L extracts by ELISA, but no significant correlation was found between these 2 extracts. ELISA inhibition tests showed significant dose-dependent inhibitions on IgE-bindings to Hop L with serial additions of Hop J extracts in a dose-dependent manner, while minimal inhibitions of IgE binding to Hop J were noted with additions of Hop L. IgE-immunoblot analysis demonstrated that the major allergenic component of Hop J at 12 kDa was inhibited by Hop J, while no inhibitions were noted by Hop L extracts on IgE-immunoblot inhibition analysis.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that there may not be a significant cross-allergenicity between Hop J and Hop L.

Keywords: Cross reactions, Humulus japonicas, Humulus lupulus, Pollen

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Fig. 1.

Detection of serum specific IgE antibodies to Humulus japonicus (Hop J) (A) and Humulus lupulus (Hop L) (B) pollen extracts by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in sera from 13 allergic rhinitis and/or asthma patients sensitive to Hop J pollens (●) and 30 normal controls (□). Horizontal bars indicate the re-spective cutoff values.

Fig. 2.

IgE-ELISA inhibition tests with serial additions of Humulus japonicus (Hop J) pollen extracts (●), Humulus lupulus (Hop L) pollen extracts (■), and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dp) extracts (▲) in the sera from allergic rhinitis and/or asthma patients sensitive to Hop J pollens. Patient number 4 (A), number 8 (B), and number 11 (C). ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Fig. 3.

Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis findings of Humulus japonicus and Humulus lupulus pollen extracts using 4%–20% gel. Hop J1, 15 μg of Humulus japonicus pollen extracts; Hop J2, 30 μg of Humulus japonicus pollen extracts; Hop L1, 15 μg of Humulus lupulus pollen extracts; Hop L2, 30 μg of Humulus lupulus pollen extracts.

Fig. 4.

IgE-immunoblot analysis of Humulus japonicus and Humulus lupulus pollen extracts in the sera from allergic rhinitis and/or asthma patients sensitive to Hop J pollens. Arrow indicate the major allergenic component of Humulus japonicus pollen extracts. Group A, the subjects having IgE-binding components to Humulus japonicus pollen extracts; group B, the subjects having IgE-binding components to both pollen extracts; J, Using Humulus japonicus pollen extracts; L, Humulus lupulus pollen extracts; NC, normal controls.

Fig. 5.

IgE-immunoblot inhibition with Humulus japonicus (Hop J) and Humulus lupulus (Hop L) pollen extracts. Group A, the subjects having IgE-binding components to Humulus japonicus pollen extracts; group B, the subjects having IgE-binding components to both pollen extracts; NC, normal controls; J, the membrane of Humulus japonicus pollen extracts; L, the membrane of Humulus lupulus pollen extracts.

Table 1.

Clinical characteristics of the study patients

Patient No.	Sex/age (yr)	Diagnosis	Total IgE (kU/L)∗	sIgE to Hop J (kU/L)∗	sIgE to Hop J (O. D.×1,000)^†	sIgE to Hop L (O. D.×1,000)^†
1	F/38	BA+AR+AD	445	>100	1,790	195
2	F/53	AR+AC	914	92.5	1,540	1,160
3	M/16	BA+AR+AC	422	39.0	1,450	749
4	F/45	AR+AC+OAS	119	39.7	1,412	678
5	F/49	BA+AR+AC+OAS	322	>100	1,733	1,352
6	F/18	BA+AR+AD	1,483	99.7	1,439	1,012
7	F/47	BA+AR+AC	377	72.8	1,321	470
8	M/57	BA+AR+AC	998	>100	1,653	1,431
9	M/14	BA+AR	>5,000	>100	1,800	1,281
10	F/51	BA+AR+AC	316	>100	1,611	638
11	F/16	AR+AC+OAS	392	57.1	1,393	1,464
12	F/49	BA+AR	2,938	81.5	1,450	816
13	F/35	AR+AC+AD+OAS	821	27.2	1,410	169

sIgE, specific immunoglobulin E; Hop J, Humulus japonicus; Hop L, Humulus lupulus; BA, bronchial asthma; AR, allergic rhinitis; AC, allergic conjunctivitis; AD, atopic dermatitis; OAS, oral allergy syndrome.

^∗ Values were measured by ImmunoCAP (ThermoFisher Scientific Inc., Waltham, MA, USA).

^† Values were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

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