Recognition of T cell epitopes unique to Cha o 2, the major allergen in Japanese cypress pollen, in allergic patients cross-reactive to Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress pollen.

Background: Pollens from species of the Cupressaceae family are one of the most important causes of respiratory allergies worldwide. Many patients with pollinosis have specific IgE to both allergens from Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress pollen. We set out to identify T cell epitopes in Cha o 2, the second major allergen of Japanese cypress pollen.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay of a linear, recombinant peptide designed for immunotherapy of Japanese cedar pollinosis.

Introduction: Cry-consensus peptide, a recombinant T-cell epitope peptide for immunotherapy of Japanese cedar pollinosis, is a linear peptide that does not have disulfide bonds because no cysteine residue exists in the molecule. We examined whether a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) could be performed for linear peptides such as Cry-consensus peptide.

Methods: The 3-dimensional conformation of Cry-consensus peptide was examined by (1)H NMR analysis.