Study on Allergenicity and Purification of Allergens from Alternaria

Purpose : Mold allergy is the one of the major causes of atopic diseases including asthma, and the Alternaria exists year-round in Korea is recognized as an important cause of many atopic asthma. Recent studies stress the significance of Alternaria as a cause of respiratory problems although detailed knowledge on this organism is limited, especially the relationship of the fungi to respiratory ailments as well as the allergenic nature of this organism. Methods : The authors studied the purification methods of Alternaria allergen and examine how the allergen acts on atopic asthma. The Alternaria samples were cultured in potato-dextrose broth for 10 days, and a crude extract was obtained after dialysis and filtration. The crude extract was subjected to SDS-PAGE followed by staining, and the allergen was analyzed. Three subjects who showed positive allergy skin test to Alternaria were subjected to RAST and allergy skin test with the crude extract. Results : SDS-PAGE of the curde extract showed more than 30 allergenic bands, and among those, 5 kD, 28 kD, 31 kD and 34 kD bands were the major allergens, indicating that the purification method used in the present study produced an extract with almost all major allergens. In 3 patients with Alternaria allergy we carried out allergy skin test with crude extracts. All three subjects showed positive allergy skin test. Conclusion : The crude extract obtained major allergens including 70 kD, 65 kD, 34 kD, 31 kD, 28 kD and 16 kD allergens, and like the results reported outside Korea. Alternaria was proved to be a major allergen in atopic asthma in Korea as well.restrictio