Stimulation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes with chironomid hemoglobin allergen (Chi t I).

Hemoglobins (Chi t I) of the dipteron species Chironomus thummi thummi are known to cause severe allergic diseases in humans. We tested the allergen-specific stimulation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) by Chi t I and its nine main components. Further, we applied fragments of the well-analyzed component III, obtained by cleavage with trypsin as well as arginine protease. In this way, we screened the molecule in order to identify T-cell epitopes. The whole component was found to be immunogenic and to have regions demonstrating varying PBL stimulation. In addition, interindividual patterns of reactivity, probably due to genetic restriction, were found. A T-cell epitope could be shown to be within the site 98-111, as predicted by application of Rothbard's algorithms.