title: Impact of urban air pollution on the allergenicity of Aspergillus fumigatus conidia: Outdoor exposure study supported by laboratory experiments.
abstract: Understanding the chemical interactions of common allergens in urban environments may help to decipher the general increase in susceptibility to allergies observed in recent decades. In this study, asexual conidia of the allergenic mold Aspergillus fumigatus were exposed to air pollution under natural (ambient) and controlled (laboratory) conditions. The allergenic activity was measured using two immunoassays and supported by a protein mass spectrometry analysis. The allergenicity of the conidia was found to increase by 2-5 fold compared to the control for short exposure times of up to 12h (accumulated exposure of about 50 ppb NO2 and 750 ppb O3), possibly due to nitration. At higher exposure times, the allergenicity increase lessened due to protein deamidation. These results indicate that during the first 12h of exposure, the allergenic potency of the fungal allergen A. fumigatus in polluted urban environments is expected to increase. Additional work is needed in order to determine if this behavior occurs for other allergens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Naama
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lang-Yona
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Timor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shuster-Meiseles
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Yinon
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mazar
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Oded
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yarden
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Electronic address: Yinon.rudich@weizmann.ac.il.
authors.forename: Yinon
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rudich
mesh_terms: D000391:Air Microbiology; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000485:Allergens / Q000032:analysis*; D001232:Aspergillus fumigatus / Q000254:growth & development*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology; D013172:Spores, Fungal
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens
keywords: Allergenic protein; Allergenicity; Aspergillus fumigatus; Fungal spore; Protein modification; Urban air pollution