TY - JOUR
T1 - Determinants of allergenicity
AU - Traidl-Hoffmann, Claudia
AU - Jakob, Thilo
AU - Behrendt, Heidrun
N1 - Funding Information:
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: T. Jakob receives grant support from the German Ministry of Research and Science, the University of Freiburg Medical Faculty, and the Landesstifung Baden Wuettemberg and is a member of the Executive Committee for the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and a board member for the European Immunodermatology Society. The rest of the authors have declared that they have no conflict of interest.
PY - 2009/3
Y1 - 2009/3
N2 - The question "What makes an allergen an allergen?" has puzzled generations of researchers, and we still do not have a conclusive answer. Despite increasing knowledge about the molecular and functional characteristics of allergens that have been identified, we still do not fully understand why some proteins are clinically relevant allergens and most are not. Different approaches have been taken to identify the structural and functional features of allergens, aiming at developing methods to predict allergenicity and thus to identify allergens. However, none of these methods has allowed a reliable discrimination between allergenic and nonallergenic compounds on its own. This review sums up diverse determinants that contribute to the phenomenon of allergenicity and outlines that in addition to the structure and function of the allergen, factors derived from allergen carriers, the environment, and the susceptible individual are of importance.
AB - The question "What makes an allergen an allergen?" has puzzled generations of researchers, and we still do not have a conclusive answer. Despite increasing knowledge about the molecular and functional characteristics of allergens that have been identified, we still do not fully understand why some proteins are clinically relevant allergens and most are not. Different approaches have been taken to identify the structural and functional features of allergens, aiming at developing methods to predict allergenicity and thus to identify allergens. However, none of these methods has allowed a reliable discrimination between allergenic and nonallergenic compounds on its own. This review sums up diverse determinants that contribute to the phenomenon of allergenicity and outlines that in addition to the structure and function of the allergen, factors derived from allergen carriers, the environment, and the susceptible individual are of importance.
KW - Allergen
KW - adjuvant
KW - intrinsic function
KW - pollen-associated lipid mediators
KW - structure
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/61849106534
U2 - 10.1016/j.jaci.2008.12.003
DO - 10.1016/j.jaci.2008.12.003
M3 - Review article
C2 - 19152966
AN - SCOPUS:61849106534
SN - 0091-6749
VL - 123
SP - 558
EP - 566
JO - Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
JF - Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
IS - 3
ER -