Dermatophagoides spp. hypoallergens design: what has been achieved so far?

Introduction: Allergic illnesses are one of the most prevalent immunological disorders worldwide and house dust mites are important triggers of these diseases. Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) is an alternative treatment to pharmacotherapy and among its technologies, recombinant hypoallergenic derivatives have shown promising features, turn them into safer and more efficient allergy vaccines.Areas covered: Patents and scientific publications referring to advances in the design of Dermatophagoides spp. hypoallergenic molecules. Data were obtained from the Espacenet® and PubMed websites, using different key terms, advanced tools and Boolean operators for searches. The retrieved data were then descriptively analyzed, taking into consideration clinical targets, geographical, temporal, collaborative, and different classification aspects of the productions.Expert opinion: Joint advances of molecular biology, genetic engineering, and bioinformatics technologies led to progresses in the design of Dermatophagoides spp. hypoallergenic derivatives. Collaborative networks seem to be an interesting way not only to improve technologies in AIT but also to boost the number of patents, publications, and grants for researchers. The observed trend for the use of hypoallergenic hybrid molecules was a fundamental AIT advance and this type of molecule appears to be a more attractive product for companies and more convenient, efficient, and safer allergy immunotherapy for patients.

Biogeographical ancestry is associated with socioenvironmental conditions and infections in a Latin American urban population.

Racial inequalities are observed for different diseases and are mainly caused by differences in socioeconomic status between ethnoracial groups. Genetic factors have also been implicated, and recently, several studies have investigated the association between biogeographical ancestry (BGA) and complex diseases. However, the role of BGA as a proxy for non-genetic health determinants has been little investigated. Similarly, studies comparing the association of BGA and self-reported skin colour with these determinants are scarce. Here, we report the association of BGA and self-reported skin colour with socioenvironmental conditions and infections. We studied 1246 children living in a Brazilian urban poor area. The BGA was estimated using 370,539 genome-wide autosomal markers. Standardised questionnaires were administered to the children's guardians to evaluate socioenvironmental conditions. Infection (or pathogen exposure) was defined by the presence of positive serologic test results for IgG to seven pathogens (Toxocara spp, Toxoplasma gondii, Helicobacter pylori, and hepatitis A, herpes simplex, herpes zoster and Epstein-Barr viruses) and the presence of intestinal helminth eggs in stool samples (Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichiuris trichiura). African ancestry was negatively associated with maternal education and household income and positively associated with infections and variables, indicating poorer housing and living conditions. The self-reported skin colour was associated with infections only. In stratified analyses, the proportion of African ancestry was associated with most of the outcomes investigated, particularly among admixed individuals. In conclusion, BGA was associated with socioenvironmental conditions and infections even in a low-income and highly admixed population, capturing differences that self-reported skin colour miss. Importantly, our findings suggest caution in interpreting significant associations between BGA and diseases as indicative of the genetic factors involved.

Advances in patent applications related to allergen immunotherapy.

INTRODUCTION: Allergies are among the most prevalent chronic diseases worldwide. Allergen-specific immunotherapy is used as an alternative treatment to pharmacotherapy. These immunotherapies are performed with crude extracts, which have disadvantages when compared to the new approaches, among them are recombinant proteins and hypoallergens. This review aims to assess immunotherapy for allergies through patent application analysis spanning recent decades. AREAS COVERED: Patents referring to allergen immunotherapies used in allergy treatment. Data were obtained from the Espacenet® website, using the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) system. Two-hundred-and-one patent applications were analyzed, taking into consideration their classification by the type of technology and applicant. EXPERT OPINION: Allergen-specific immunotherapy represents the only potentially curative therapeutic intervention for the treatment of allergic diseases. The extract-based immunotherapy is being replaced by the use of recombinant allergens, highlighting the hypoallergenic forms, which have low IgE-binding while retaining T-cell reactivity. It is expected that the development of hypoallergens will expand the scope of allergen-specific immunotherapy, especially if associated with alternative systems for expression and delivery systems with future potential. Furthermore, these new developments will likely address the problem of long-term protocols in allergen-specific immunotherapy, thus allowing better patient adherence and compliance.

Asthma and rhinitis symptoms in individuals from different socioeconomic levels in a Brazilian city.

Allergy is considered to be caused by complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Socioeconomic status (SES) may be the most important environmental determinant of allergy because it determines the living environment, but few studies have addressed the causal role of SES in allergy. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of asthma and rhinitis symptoms in two SES groups in a Brazilian city. History of asthma and rhinitis symptoms was collected using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire. SES was determined by the Gallup method. Sera from subgroups of the individuals were used to determine total, anti-Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and anti-Blomia tropicalis IgE. The prevalence of asthma and rhinitis symptoms was higher in the A and B (A&B) SES group than in the C, D, and E (C, D&E) SES group. Individuals with asthma and/or rhinitis were more frequently positive for anti-B. tropicalis and anti-D. pteronyssinus IgE than individuals without these symptoms. A positive association between total IgE levels and asthma and rhinitis symptoms was observed in the A&B SES group but not in the C, D&E SES group. Women reported more respiratory symptoms than men. These results revealed higher prevalence rates ofasthma and rhinitis symptoms in individuals with higher SES and may provide support for the hygiene hypothesis, which attributes the high prevalence of respiratory allergies observed in individuals from developed countries to a low exposure to pathogens. The observed higher prevalence of asthma and rhinitis symptoms in women than in men could be attributed to differences in the perception of these symptoms or in exposures to allergens and protective pathogens.