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Allergens, Diagnostics, and Therapeutic Aspects in House Dust Mite Allergy

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Molecular Allergy Diagnostics

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Abstract

In most parts of the world, house dust is the most important elicitor of allergic reactions, and more than 50 % of all allergic patients are sensitized to house dust mites. Specific immunotherapy of house dust mite allergy is performed routinely with allergen extracts. Due to the bad quality of house dust mite extracts, this treatment is less efficient than immunotherapy with pollen extracts. Therefore, it would be beneficial to perform diagnosis and immunotherapy of house dust mite allergy with pure natural or recombinant house dust mite allergens. Although more than 30 allergens have already been identified in house dust mites and most of them were produced as recombinant proteins, so far only few house dust mite allergens are available for routine diagnosis. This chapter describes aspects of diagnosis and therapy with recombinant house dust mite allergens.

This contribution is based on a publication by the authors that appeared in the Allergo Journal in 2013 (Vrtala S, Kleine-Tebbe J: Hausstaubmilbenallergene und ihre Bedeutung. Allergo J 2013; 22(8):546–9) and which has now been updated, expanded, and translated into English as a chapter for this book.

The authors gratefully thank Prof. Wayne Thomas, PhD, Telethon Kids Institute, West Perth, Western Australia, Australia, for reviewing the manuscript, editorial assistance, and many helpful suggestions regarding this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    S. Vrtala PhD, Prof.

  2. Clinical and Molecular Allergology, Research Center Borstel, Leibniz-Center for Medicine and Biosciences, Borstel, Germany

    S. Kull PhD

  3. Allergy & Asthma Center Westend, Outpatient Clinic Hanf, Ackermann & Kleine-Tebbe, Berlin, Germany

    J. Kleine-Tebbe MD, Prof.

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  1. S. Vrtala PhD, Prof.
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  2. S. Kull PhD
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  3. J. Kleine-Tebbe MD, Prof.
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Correspondence to S. Vrtala PhD, Prof. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Professor of Dermatology and Allergology, Allergy and Asthma Center Westend Outpatient Clinic Hanf, Ackermann and Kleine-Tebbe, Berlin, Germany

    Jörg Kleine-Tebbe

  2. Professor of Dermatology and Allergology Chairman of the Department of Dermatology and Allergology, University Medical Center Gießen and Marburg Campus Gießen Justus Liebig University Gießen, Gießen, Germany

    Thilo Jakob

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Vrtala, S., Kull, S., Kleine-Tebbe, J. (2017). Allergens, Diagnostics, and Therapeutic Aspects in House Dust Mite Allergy. In: Kleine-Tebbe, J., Jakob, T. (eds) Molecular Allergy Diagnostics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42499-6_22

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