title: Allergenicity of the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis felis)
abstract: Adult fleas, spent and unspent culture media were extracted and the radio-allergosorbent test (RAST) performed with sera of 48 cat flea skin test-positive individuals from the Tampa Bay area of Florida. Sixteen sera (33.6%) had a positive RAST to the cat flea extract prepared in our laboratory [1.7-11.4% of the total counts (TC) added]. Six of the 16 sera (12.5%) also contained specific IgE to allergens in the spent medium (0.8-3.3% TC). The allergen composition and strength were studied by RAST inhibition of two commercial cat flea extracts and compared with our in-house flea extract. The results demonstrated similar allergen compositions and different potencies. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of the in-house flea extract showed several Coomassie blue-stained bands (10-85 kD). SDS-PAGE immunoblots revealed five IgE-binding bands at 34, 35, 39, 54 and 60 kD. Flea allergens were quantified in eight house dust samples using RAST inhibition assays and expressed as RAST inhibition units; five of these samples contained detectable levels. Cat flea allergens may contribute to the allergenicity of house dust in areas of heavy flea infestation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, University of South Florida, College of Medicine, Tampa.
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Trudeau
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fernández-Caldas
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Bucholtz
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Lockey
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000032:analysis*; D011852:Radioallergosorbent Test; D005423:Siphonaptera / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D004391:Dust; D007073:Immunoglobulin E