Allergens of the house dust mite Dermatophagoides farinae. II. Immunological characterization of four allergenic molecules.

In a previous study, we detected four major allergens from the house dust mite extract prepared from the body of Dermatophagoides farinae, employing radioimmunoelectrophoresis. The four allergenic proteins were designated as Me1, Me2, Me3 and Me4. The most prevalent allergen was found to be Me1 and its molecular weight was determined to be 17,000 daltons. In this study, the molecular weight of the second prevalent allergen, Me2, was determined to be 27,000 daltons using the immunoblotting method. The molecular weights of the other two major allergens, Me3 and Me4, were also estimated.