Demonstration of allergen components in the storage mite Lepidoglyphus destructor by an immunoblotting technique.

The allergen composition of crude extracts of the storage mite Lepidoglyphus destructor were investigated by sodium dodecylsulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting. The allergen components were detected by sera from allergic farmers with a positive radioallergosorbent test to L. destructor. The allergen-antibody complexes were visualized by rabbit anti-IgE and beta-galactosidase-labelled sheep antirabbit IgG in a chromogenic substrate. Six out of the forty-three sera also had IgE antibodies to the culture medium, which were neutralized by addition of medium antigens before the demonstration of mite allergen components. A total of 11 allergen components were identified. Two of them were found to be major allergen components, identified by more than 50% of the 43 sera used in the study. These 2 IgE-binding components had molecular weights of approximately 18,000 and 16,000 daltons, respectively.