Background: The aim of this study was to purify the major oak pollen allergen, Que a 1, to perform biochemical and immunological characterization of the allergen and to develop an experimental native (n) Que a 1 ImmunoCAP®. Methods: Que a 1 was purified from oak pollen extract using affinity chromatography and characterized by SDS-PAGE, two-dimensional (2D) PAGE, mass spectrometry (MS), N-terminal sequencing and specific IgE inhibition on ImmunoCAP. Samples from 16 subjects sensitized to oak pollen were analyzed by ImmunoCAP for IgE reactivity to nQue a 1, and recombinant (r)Bet v 1 and 2 (profilin). They were also studied in IgE immunoblotting. Results: The purity of nQue a 1 was >95%, since a single band was observed on silver-stained SDS-PAGE. The identity was verified by MS analysis, and 2D-PAGE revealed several isoforms. The obtained N-terminal sequence of 50-amino-acid residues from nQue a 1 showed a 58–74% sequence identity with other pathogenesis-related class 10 allergens. Specific IgE inhibition verified a preserved immunoreactivity (70–92% inhibition). All subjects were sensitized to Que a 1 and Bet v 1, and two to profilin. The IgE antibody levels to nQue a 1 were generally lower than to rBet v 1. The obtained results correlated well with IgE immunoblotting. Conclusions: We present a highly purified and extensively characterized preparation of nQue a 1. Que a 1 seems to be an allergen of equal importance in oak pollen as Bet v 1 in birch pollen. An nQue a 1 ImmunoCAP will be useful in component-resolved diagnostics.

Keywords:
Amino acid sequence, Component-resolved diagnostics, Immunoblotting, ImmunoCAP®, Mass spectrometry, Oak pollen, Que a 1, Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis
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2008
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