title: Is ragweed pollen allergenicity governed by environmental conditions during plant growth and flowering?
abstract: Pollen allergenicity is one of the main factors influencing the prevalence and/or severity of allergic diseases. However, how genotype and environment contribute to ragweed pollen allergenicity has still to be established. To throw some light on the factors governing allergenicity, in this work 180 ragweed plants from three Regions (Canada, France, Italy) were grown in both controlled (constant) and standard environmental conditions (seasonal changes in temperature, relative humidity and light). Pollen from single plants was characterized for its allergenic potency and for the underlying regulation mechanisms by studying the qualitative and quantitative variations of the main isoforms of the major ragweed allergen Amb a 1. Results showed a statistically higher variability in allergenicity of pollen from standard conditions than from controlled conditions growing plants. This variability was due to differences among single plants, regardless of their origin, and was not ascribed to differences in the expression and IgE reactivity of individual Amb a 1 isoforms but rather to quantitative differences involving all the studied isoforms. It suggests that the allergenic potency of ragweed pollen and thus the severity of ragweed pollinosis mainly depends on environmental conditions during plant growth and flowering, which regulate the total Amb a 1 content.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Science Ambientali, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghiani
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Science Ambientali, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ciappetta
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Science Ambientali, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Rodolfo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gentili
authors.affiliation: Ambulatorio di Allergologia, Clinica San Carlo, Paderno Dugnano (MI), Italy.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Asero
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Science Ambientali, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Citterio
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology*; D052179:Antigens, Plant / Q000276:immunology*; D004777:Environment; D035264:Flowers / Q000502:physiology*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000378:metabolism; D063245:Plant Development; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000276:immunology*; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D052179:Antigens, Plant; D010936:Plant Extracts; D020033:Protein Isoforms; C433085:ragweed pollen; D007073:Immunoglobulin E