Sugimura K, Hashiguchi S, Takahashi Y, Hino K, Taniguchi Y, Kurimoto M, Fukuda K, Ohyama M, Yamada G
Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Engineering, Kagoshima University, Japan.
Allergy. 1996 Oct;51(10):732-40. doi: 10.1111/j.1398-9995.1996.tb02118.x.
Cry j 1 and Cry j 2 are known to be the major allergens of Japanese cedar pollen. A comparative study was carried out on the immune responses to stimulation with Cry j 1 and Cry j 2 in 24 symptomatic patients and six nonallergic subjects. In T-cell proliferation assays, mean stimulation indexes (SI) were 10.6 for Cry j 1 and 11.7 for Cry j 2 stimulation, respectively, in the allergic patients. Two of the nonallergic subjects showed strong T-cell proliferation to both allergens, while the remainder did not. All the allergic subjects (17/17) showed high titers of anti-Cry j 1 IgE antibody at a mean value of 165 U/ml, whereas only 64% responded to Cry j 2 with low titers at a mean value of 26 U/ml. Nonallergic subjects did not respond with IgE production. Allergic subjects were further examined for their cytokine production profiles. All allergic subjects tested (16/16) produced high levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) in response to Cry j 1 with a mean value of 918 pg/ml, while only five subjects showed significant elevation of IFN-gamma production in response to Cry j 2 with a mean value of 679 pg/ml. The remainder produced small amounts of IFN-gamma. Cry j 1 induced higher levels of interleukin (IL)-10 gene expression than did Cry j 2 stimulation, while both allergens induced IL-4 expression at a similar level. The IL-12 p35 gene was constitutively expressed, whereas the IL-12 p40 gene expression in Cry j 1-stimulated cells was elevated eightfold over that of nonstimulated cells. Increased expression of the IL-12 p40 gene was negligible in Cry j 2-stimulated cells. Thus, Cry j 1 stimulated mixed features of Th1 and Th2-like responses, while Cry j 2 played a minor role in inducing IgE production and cytokine (IFN-gamma, IL-10, and IL-12) production, except for IL-2 production and strong T-cell proliferative activity. Therefore, it was concluded that Cry j 1 is the more important allergen, and that T-cell proliferation assays do not necessarily reflect the level of allergenicity.
已知Cry j 1和Cry j 2是日本雪松花粉的主要过敏原。对24例有症状患者和6例非过敏受试者针对Cry j 1和Cry j 2刺激的免疫反应进行了一项比较研究。在T细胞增殖试验中，过敏患者中Cry j 1刺激的平均刺激指数（SI）为10.6，Cry j 2刺激的为11.7。6例非过敏受试者中有2例对两种过敏原均表现出强烈的T细胞增殖，而其余受试者则未出现。所有过敏受试者（17/17）抗Cry j 1 IgE抗体均呈高滴度，平均值为165 U/ml，而只有64%的受试者对Cry j 2有低滴度反应，平均值为26 U/ml。非过敏受试者未产生IgE。对过敏受试者进一步检测其细胞因子产生情况。所有检测的过敏受试者（16/16）对Cry j 1刺激产生高水平的干扰素-γ（IFN-γ），平均值为918 pg/ml，而只有5例受试者对Cry j 2刺激显示IFN-γ产生显著升高，平均值为679 pg/ml。其余受试者产生少量IFN-γ。与Cry j 2刺激相比，Cry j 1诱导的白细胞介素（IL）-10基因表达水平更高，而两种过敏原诱导的IL-4表达水平相似。IL-12 p35基因呈组成性表达，而Cry j 1刺激细胞中IL-12 p40基因表达比未刺激细胞升高了8倍。Cry j 2刺激细胞中IL-12 p40基因表达的增加可忽略不计。因此，Cry j 1刺激了Th1和Th2样反应的混合特征，而Cry j 2在诱导IgE产生和细胞因子（IFN-γ、IL-10和IL-12）产生方面作用较小，但IL-2产生和强烈的T细胞增殖活性除外。因此，得出结论，Cry j 1是更重要的过敏原，且T细胞增殖试验不一定能反映过敏原性水平。
