Project Details
Projekt
The role of house dust mite allergens - structural and functional analysis in the context of atopic diseases
Applicants
Professorin Dr. Uta Jappe; Dr. Stephan Traidl
Subject Area
Clinical Immunology and Allergology
Term
since 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 525032734
Atopic diseases and allergies in particular show a high prevalence nowadays accompanied by a significant socioeconomic burden. House dust mites (HDM), the second most common recognized allergen source in the world, play a central role in the development of allergic bronchial asthma and may induce and exacerbate atopic dermatitis (AD). In addition to the major allergens of HDM, Der p 1, Der p 2, and Der p 23, a variety of other allergens have been described in HDM that, unlike the major allergens, are not yet used in routine diagnostics. In preliminary studies with an extended spectrum of HDM allergens we could show that patients with different phenotypes of atopic diseases have different sensitization profiles: Patients with allergic asthma have significantly more IgE against Der p 21, whereas patients with AD have significantly more IgE against Der p 20. For this reason, the role of each allergen in the lung and skin will be investigated in this joint project and characterized with regard to their function as a cause of their possible organ specificity. The conflation of the expertise from the Research Center Borstel and Hannover Medical School enables a parallel molecular-allergological and T-cell immunological characterization of the pathophysiological processes in the lung and skin. In addition to the use of single allergens for diagnostic improvement and the detection of sensitization profiles in different subgroups of atopic patients, a central component is the investigation of the interaction of single allergens with epithelia (including surfactant proteins) and the immune system. In the latter, a focus is on the analysis of the T-cell specific immune responses to the allergens in asthma and AD patients. A possible cross-reactivity to human proteins in the sense of an autoallergy will also be elucidated within the project. Autoallergy could lead to an aggravation of the inflammatory process in both inflammatory diseases. Another component of the joint project application is the examination of the clinical relevance of HDM allergen sensitization using the basophil activation test (BAT), which will be tested for its capacity to spare patients an allergen provocation in the future (HDM exposure study), as well as to measure a tolerance development (monitoring of HDM immunotherapy). The better availability of diverse allergens of the respective allergen sources for diagnostic procedures will improve the risk assessment and management of (HDM) allergies including therapy decisions as well as allergy prevention in the future. By networking the complementary competences from Borstel and Hannover, single allergen-cell (or -epithelial) interactions can be specifically investigated in different organ systems (lung and skin). Thus, a detailed understanding not only of organ-specific sensitization at the single allergen level and the cause of its clinical relevance, but also of the associated T-cell driven inflammation will be developed.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
