Sensitization patterns of plant panallergens in Georgian allergic population from the molecular perspective.

INTRODUCTION

In allergy diagnostics, component-resolved diagnostics (CRD) allows the clinician to assess the presence of specific IgE (sIgE) to allergenic proteins. Molecular diagnostics has improved our ability to identify not only species-specific, but also panallergen components.

AIM

To characterize the Georgian allergic population according to the most frequently recognized plant panallergen components (profilins, PR-10 and nonspecific lipid transfer proteins) using sensitization data from multiplex CRD and investigate their association with particular allergic diseases.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Patients, IgE positive to at least one studied panallergen component, were selected out of total 435 allergic individuals and stratified in two age groups: children and adults. Descriptive statistics, Chi square test (χ) and Pearson Correlation test () were used for analysing the data.

RESULTS

38% (164/435) of investigated allergic patients showed IgE reactivity to at least one molecule belonging to Profilin, PR-10 and nsLTP families. Generally, PR-10 reactive individuals represented the largest group of patients (56.0%), followed by Profilins (43.0%) and nsLTP (32.0%). For the PR-10 allergen group, IgE sensitization was dominated by Bet v 1, for Profilin - by Hev b 8 and for nsLTP - by Pru p 3. It was shown that sensitization with nsLTPs revealed statistically important associations with allergic rhinitis ( = 0.005) and dermatitis ( = 0.02). PR-10 allergen sensitization was associated with allergic rhinitis ( = 0.04) and asthma ( = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS

According to our results, sensitization to plant panallergens in the Georgian population creates characteristic features overlapping serotypes of Central Europe and Mediterranean region.