Identification of allergens from Aspergillus fumigatus-Potential association with lung damage in asthma.

Background: Component-resolved diagnosis allows detection of IgE sensitization having the advantage of reproducibility and standardization compared to crude extracts. The main disadvantage of the traditional allergen identification methods, 1- or 2-dimensional western blotting and screening of expression cDNA libraries with patients' IgEs, is that the native structure of the protein is not necessarily maintained.

Methods: We used a novel immunoprecipitation technique in combination with mass spectrometry to identify new allergens of Aspergillus fumigatus.