Technische Universität and Helmholtz Zentrum München, Biedersteinerstr. 29, München, Germany.
Curr Pharm Des. 2012;18(16):2314-9. doi: 10.2174/138161212800166040.
The question what makes an allergen an allergen puzzled generations of researchers. Pollen grains of anemophilous plants are the most important allergen carriers in ambient air, and pollinosis is a highly prevalent multi-organ disease in civilized countries. In the past, research on the allergenicity of pollen has mainly focused on elucidating genetic predisposing factors and on defining certain structural characteristics of pollen derived allergens. Recently, studies extended to the analysis of non-allergenic, adjuvant mediators co-released from pollen. Besides active proteases and oxidases, extracts of pollen contain low molecular weight molecules like pollen-associated lipid mediators or adenosine exhibiting a potential to stimulate and modulate cultured human immune cells. This article reviews our current knowledge on non-allergenic, protein and non-protein compounds from pollen and their in vitro and in vivo effects on the allergic immune response. To ultimately judge the physiological relevance of these compounds, a systematic approach will be needed comparing their releasability, content and activity in different, allergenic and non-allergenic, pollen species. System biology such as proteome and metabolome analysis will be a useful future approach to better understand pollen biology.
过敏原究竟为何物这一问题曾令数代研究人员感到困惑。风媒植物的花粉粒是环境空气中最重要的过敏原载体，而花粉症是在文明国家中非常普遍的多器官疾病。过去，花粉变应原性的研究主要集中于阐明遗传易感性因素和确定花粉衍生过敏原的某些结构特征。最近，研究扩展到了对花粉共同释放的非变应原性、佐剂介质的分析。花粉提取物除了含有活性蛋白酶和氧化酶外，还含有低分子量分子，如花粉相关的脂质介质或腺苷，它们具有刺激和调节培养的人免疫细胞的潜力。本文综述了我们目前对花粉中非变应原性、蛋白质和非蛋白质化合物的认识，以及它们对过敏性免疫反应的体外和体内作用。为了最终判断这些化合物的生理相关性，需要采用一种系统的方法来比较它们在不同的、变应原性和非变应原性花粉物种中的释放能力、含量和活性。蛋白质组学和代谢组学等系统生物学将是一种有用的未来方法，可帮助我们更好地了解花粉生物学。
