title: Reactivity of German cockroach allergen, Bla g 2, peptide fragments to IgE antibodies in patients' sera.
abstract: Bla g 2 is a cockroach allergen of great importance. This study was conducted to identify IgE-binding epitope(s) of Bla g 2 using the recombinant protein technique. Approximately 50% of tested sera showed IgE reactivity to Pichia-expressed Bla g 2 (PrBla g 2) and E. coli-expressed Bla g 2 (ErBla g 2). Only 5.3% of serum samples showed stronger reactivity to PrBla g 2 than ErBla g 2, indicating that serum was reactive to conformational or carbohydrate epitopes. The full-length and 5 peptide fragments of Bla g 2 were produced in E. coli. All fragments showed IgE-binding activity to the cockroach-allergy patients' sera. Specifically, peptide fragments of amino acid residue 1-75 and 146-225 appeared to be important for IgE-binding. The information about the IgE-binding epitope of Bla g 2 can aid in the diagnosis and treatment for cockroach allergies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medical Biology and the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Arthropods of Medical Importance Resource Bank, Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
authors.forename: Haeseok
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyoung Yong
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Kwang Hyun
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Myung-hee
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Darambazar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gantulaga
authors.forename: Chein-Soo
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Tai-Soon
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Yong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies; D016282:Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D003058:Cockroaches / Q000276:immunology; D000939:Epitopes; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000939:Epitopes; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D016282:Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases; C094699:allergen Bla g 2