title: Conversion of the major birch pollen allergen, Bet v 1, into two nonanaphylactic T cell epitope-containing fragments: candidates for a novel form of specific immunotherapy.
abstract: A novel approach to reduce the anaphylactic activity of allergens is suggested. The strategy makes use of the presence of conformational immunoglobulin E (IgE) epitopes on one of the most common allergens. The three dimensional structure of the major birch pollen allergen, Bet v 1, was disrupted by expressing two parts of the Bet v 1 cDNA representing amino acids 1-74 and 75-160 in Escherichia coli. In contrast to the complete recombinant Bet v 1, the fragments showed almost no allergenicity and exhibited random coil conformation as analyzed by circular dichroism. Both nonanaphylactic fragments induced proliferation of human Bet v 1-specific T cell clones, indicating that they harbored all dominant T cell epitopes and therefore may be considered as a basis for the development of a safe and specific T cell immunotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunopathology, Institute of General and Experimental Pathology, AKH, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vrtala
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirtenlehner
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vangelista
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pastore
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Eichler
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Sperr
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Valent
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ebner
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kraft
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valenta
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens; D000707:Anaphylaxis / Q000517:prevention & control; D000818:Animals; D052179:Antigens, Plant; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D000939:Epitopes; D006636:Histamine Release; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000628:therapy*; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000378:metabolism; D007167:Immunotherapy; D051379:Mice; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D052179:Antigens, Plant; D000939:Epitopes; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D010940:Plant Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C061312:Bet v 1 allergen, Betula; D007073:Immunoglobulin E