Open AccessEpicutaneous allergen application preferentially boosts specific T cell responses in sensitized patients
Author(s) -
Raffaela Campana,
Katharina Moritz,
A. Neubauer,
Hanspeter Huber,
Rainer Henning,
Tess M. Brodie,
Alexandra Kaider,
Federica Sallusto,
Stefan Wöhrl,
Rudolf Valenta
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/s41598-017-10278-1
Subject(s) - allergen , computational biology , immunology , chemistry , medicine , biology , allergy
The effects of epicutaneous allergen administration on systemic immune responses in allergic and non-allergic individuals has not been investigated with defined allergen molecules. We studied the effects of epicutaneous administration of rBet v 1 and rBet v 1 fragments on systemic immune responses in allergic and non-allergic subjects. We conducted a clinical trial in which rBet v 1 and two hypoallergenic rBet v 1 fragments were applied epicutaneously by atopy patch testing (APT) to 15 birch pollen (bp) allergic patients suffering from atopic dermatitis, 5 bp-allergic patients suffering from rhinoconjunctivitis only, 5 patients with respiratory allergy without bp allergy and 5 non-allergic individuals. Epicutaneous administration of rBet v 1 and rBet v 1 fragments led to strong and significant increases of allergen-specific T cell proliferation (CLA+ and CCR4+T cell responses) only in bp-allergic patients with a positive APT reaction. There were no relevant changes of Bet v 1-specific IgE and IgG responses. No changes were noted in allergic subjects without bp allergy and in non-allergic subjects. Epicutaneous allergen application boosts specific T cell but not antibody responses mainly in allergic, APT-positive patients suggesting IgE-facilitated allergen presentation as mechanism for its effects on systemic allergen-specific immune responses.