The CREATE project without parietaria pollen: can it be true?

The March issue of Allergy featured an interesting article by Dr van Ree: The CREATE project development of certified reference materials for allergic products and validation of methods for their quantification (1). It represents, in our opinion, a great effort and a decisive step to achieve a shared standardization of allergen extracts for the diagnosis and treatment of allergic disorders. Nevertheless, Parietaria pollen and its allergens were not mentioned on the manuscript. Thousands of patients, both adults and children suffer from seasonal asthma and rhinitis caused by sensitization to pollens of the Urticaceae family (Parietaria judaica and Parietaria officinalis) (2); in Croatia, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and in other Mediterranean countries, Parietaria pollen is a common cause of sensitization to inhalant allergens. The pivotal role of Parietaria (pellitoryof-the-wall) in the Mediterranean area along with that of Grass and Olive tree was confirmed recently (3, 4). In this context, the risk for the authors of the CREATE project, seemingly without allergens of Urticaceae family, is to cut off, by the technological and scientific progress, the patients in South of Europe. We agree with the authors that the current system of allergens standardization in not tenable as an international system of standardization; however, in our opinion, a yardstick for Parietaria could also be used by the researchers to improve, in future, symptoms and quality of life of the patients allergic to allergens of Urticaceae family.